Christmas Tales and Character Trails: Unravelling Scrooge’s Motivations in A Christmas Carol.
Updated: Jan 2
From “Bah humbug!” to “God bless us, one and all!” These are the timeless quotes from one of our most memorable books in literary history, words that encapsulate Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation from callous skinflint to generous guardian. But what lies between those two bookends that sparks such a profound change? What exactly drives Scrooge through the middle of the story to flip him from one extreme to the other? How do his motivations contribute to his character development?
In a previous post, I delved into the writing techniques used in the opening pages that firmly establish Scrooge’s character. This Christmas, it’s time to peel back the layers and explore the history behind the man, unravelling his backstory to help you understand how it shapes his motivations in the novella’s present day. The trails of his past that feed into plot triggers, delivering him to the trails he is yet to follow, form our most enduring seasonal tale, A Christmas Carol.
In order to comprehend this miserly wretch, we must have some context on what experiences led him to this point in his life. Dickens weaves in glimpses of Scrooge’s early life and upbringing to offer insights into the character’s motivations. The first notable example occurs when the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge on a journey back to his childhood. They visit Fezziwig’s Christmas party where Scrooge was once an apprentice. Here, Scrooge witnesses his younger self enjoying the festive celebration and camaraderie.
This trip down memory lane highlights a time when Scrooge was not the miserly figure he became. The contrast between the happy, carefree young Scrooge, and the embittered old man he has developed into, serves to emphasise the impact of his life experiences on his character. It hints at a turning point when he shifted from a more optimistic and joyful outlook to the miserliness that defines him in the present.
Other significant milestones the ghost makes him relive are Scrooge’s personal losses. His sister’s welcome arrival to bring him home from boarding school and the reminder of her later death; the termination of his engagement to his fiancé, Belle. This all lends credence to a character who once loved and took joy in life and other people – quite a contrast to the Scrooge we have witnessed up till Marley’s first supernatural visitor appears. Scrooge’s choices to pursue the trail of personal fortune over the trail of true love and of family connection illustrate the corruption of money upon moral fibre. And yet there is no doubt of the pain he suffered as a consequence to these choices, hardening him and further distancing him from the original life trail he had been expected to follow. Scrooge is a man who has allowed his financial success to dictate his choices, his choices to instruct his actions and his actions have hardened him so much he has forgotten the joy of love.
These dips into his past also set up other important story mechanics: the notion of the possibility of change (were he always a cold-hearted miser, there would be no means of redemption); getting the reader to root for that change by showing the pain he’s suffered, and that he has the capacity to care (no one wants to cheer on a malign character if there is no slither of good will to retrieve); and they provide the context for the plot trigger for the first third of the story. Had he not allowed money to isolate him, had his sister lived, then perhaps he would have been deterred from the path of miserliness that chiselled his character from thereon in.
This use of backstory helps readers understand the origins of Scrooge’s worldview, the motivations behind the choices he has made and, therefore, the motivations of Marley’s visitors to fix him. It is this fundamental character flaw that initiates Marley’s intent to save him from himself. This employs motivations that come from outside of the character, yet are intrinsically driven by the character, the innate traits of their psychological entrenchment driving the plot forward.
So, the Ghost of Christmas Past has been and gone, and the reader has a full understanding of Scrooge’s merciless nature, along with the events that pushed him down a path of emotional and moral withdrawal. In terms of character transformation, Scrooge needed to become reconnected with his previous self and reminded of those he loved and lost in order for the Ghost of Christmas Present to have any impact. This second entity shows Scrooge all the people currently around him, of whom he has the barest knowledge, and how they live their lives. He witnesses family members and his employee’s household speak ill of him. Yet his nephew and his clerk do not yield into ill will against him and instead wish him good tidings – even in the absence of his presence and in his absence of empathy. He witnesses the warmth and joviality these people share with one another. He becomes acquainted with the precarious situation the Cratchit family is in and begins to empathise for the first time in decades.
All these moments gradually chip away at his cold heart, sowing the seeds of change. And in terms of writing the narrative, they germinate into the new motivations his character will need in order to complete his transformation. For, without motivation, you have no true character. If characters want nowt, be that through ambition, fear, guilt or lust, there is nothing to move them – and the story – forward.
Once The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come visits, and he sees the potential future that awaits not just himself but also Tiny Tim, it’s as if spring has sprung. The rain has come; the seedlings have emerged and bloomed, revealing new trails not visible within Scrooge’s former purview. He is newly invigorated by the need to save the boy and, in turn, himself.
So well-drawn is he that all the motivations in this Christmas tale are driven entirely by Scrooge’s indomitable character. If he wasn’t so scrimping and mean, Tim would get the nutrition and medical help he needs. Were he not so “Bah humbug” Fred would not be so stoically kind and generous, refusing to follow suit, awaiting the day when his uncle will see the error of his ways. Scrooge is the central hub with numerous trails connecting him to the people in his past, his present and his future. And Dickens knew only too well how to lead the reader along those trails to craft the captivating narrative so many generations have come to love. It starts with a firm foundation of character – that is what the first third of the story mainly sets out to do, while interweaving plot, intrigue, theme, etc. Without that foundation, the middle won’t carry itself forward. And middles are often the hardest part of a book to get through when writing it.
Find the motivation, and you’ll be halfway through the middle before you know it.
Find the motivation, and you’ll find the tension when opposing forces challenge that motivation.
If you are struggling through the middle and have writing time this Christmas, this is your task this holiday: find your story trails. Bullet point three things that happened in your main character’s past to form the person they are in the present story. Then bullet point three things that will happen to initiate change. Then ask yourself why they instigate change in the character and what new ambition arises from that change. The new ambition will set the path to finding the end of the novel or short story.
Have fun, and Merry Christmas!
