{"id":1677,"date":"2018-12-18T12:30:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T16:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/?p=1677"},"modified":"2019-11-15T14:41:34","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T18:41:34","slug":"dickens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/12\/18\/dickens\/","title":{"rendered":"Dickens"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h3>\n

From A Christmas Carol<\/em>, by Charles Dickens (1843)<\/h3>\n

Early in the novel, Ebenezer Scrooge is speaking to two men who are trying to solicit a donation to the poor. When he says he\u2019ll donate \u201cnothing,\u201d they ask if he wishes to remain anonymous. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. \u201cSince you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned [prisons and workhouses]: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.\u201d’<\/p>\n

\u201cMany can’t go there; and many would rather die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they would rather die,\u201d’ said Scrooge, \u201cthey had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Much later, Ebenezer Scrooge is speaking to the ghost of Christmas Present concerning Tiny Tim.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cNo, no,\u201d said Scrooge. \u201cOh no, kind Spirit! Say he will be spared!\u201d<\/p>\n

“If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race,\u201d returned the Ghost, \u201cwill find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief.<\/p>\n

“Man,” said the Ghost, ” if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From The Chimes, <\/em>by Charles Dickens (1844)<\/h3>\n

Dickens wrote several Christmas novellas, not just the most famous one with Ebenezer Scrooge.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Context: Mr. Filer just heard a friend explaining how terrible marriage is to a young couple after they say they\u2019re planning to marry. The young woman\u2019s father is also present. \u201cSuch people as those\u201d refers to people in poverty, three of whom are in front of him listening to him say this. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA man may live to be as old as Methuselah,\u201d said Mr. Filer, \u201cand may labour all his life for the benefit of such people as those: and may heap up facts on figures, facts on figures, facts on figures, mountains high and dry; and he can no more hope to persuade \u2018em that they have no right or business to be married, than he can hope to persuade \u2018em that they have no earthly right or business to be born. And that<\/em> we know they haven\u2019t. We reduced it to a mathematical certainty long ago!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Commentary<\/h3>\n

\"\"Dickens\u2019 Christmas Carol<\/em> . . . is a polemical work: Dickens was sparring with the laissez-faire capitalists whose influence in industrializing Britain sought to limit concern for the poor to running poor houses and treadmills. . . His other target was Thomas Malthus. Malthus, the intellectual granddaddy of zero population growth, had argued that population increase would inevitably lead to disaster. . .\u00a0 Scrooge gives voice to the elite opinion of his day when, dismissing the businessmen who come to his office seeking charitable contributions, he opines that those who would rather die than go to a poorhouse \u201chad better do it and decrease the surplus population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two (Pro-Life) Christmas Classics:\u00a0A Christmas Carol<\/em> and It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em> Carry a Message for All Seasons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

John M. Grondelski, National Catholic Register<\/em>, December 17, 2011<\/p>\n

===================================<\/p>\n

For another Christmas literature commentary in our blog, see:<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a Wonderful Movement <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens (1843) Early in the novel, Ebenezer Scrooge is speaking to two men who are trying to solicit a donation to the poor. When he says he\u2019ll donate \u201cnothing,\u201d they ask if he wishes to remain anonymous. \u201cI wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. \u201cSince you ask me… <\/p>\n