Storytelling Format

If Sam doesn't teach his dog to behave, Dad is going to sell him to a farm. The dog has had its last warning.

Sam doesn't know if Dad is serious but he sure was mad yesterday when he missed his train because Chase stole his cell phone and tore through the house with it. No one could catch him. From now on, Sam is determined to keep the puppy out of Dad's way.

The morning alarm rings. Sam jumps out of bed. Chase is pawing at the door - eager to start the morning. Chase barks loudly - demanding to be set free from Sam's room.

Sam tries to hush the puppy but he's too excited to listen.

Mom knocks at the door. "Sam," she says. "I brought you some dog biscuits. Keep the dog busy. You can let him out as soon as Dad leaves."

Sam opens the door to take the biscuits but his grip the Chase's collar is not tight enough. Chase breaks loose and runs between Mom's legs, heading for the stairs.

Chase runs downstairs with Sam in close pursuit. Dad is standing in front of the hall mirror - straightening his tie and with some gel - his hair.

Sam uses the dog biscuits to distract the dog from Dad. Look Dad, Chase can sit. Sit Chase. Now stand Chase, instructs Sam, and the puppy does as he is told - eager to have more biscuits. Dad is pleased to see some progress and encourages Sam to keep up the training.

Dad grabs his cell phone and brief case and heads for the door. The train to the city leaves and 8:00 am sharp and he must be on it! He gives Mom a kiss goodbye and opens the door.

Once again, Chase bolts through the open door. Sam grabs his jacket to put on over his PJs, stuffs biscuits in the pockets and runs out after him - just in time to see him squeeze through the gap in the hedge and into Mrs. Cobley's front lawn. The puppy could just fit.

Better catch before he digs another hole in the garden, shouts Dad out the car window. Better catch him before the school bus comes, shouts Mom from the front door.

Sam runs around the hedge and watches Chase disappear behind the house. Poor Sam chases Chase around the house three times. Will the puppy ever tire!

Suddenly, Mrs. Cobley's cat appears in the front yard and the puppy stops in his track. Cat! Chase doesn't know what to make of the cat, but judging by the arch of its back - the cat has some ideas what to do about the puppy. Chase begins to bark madly.

Quickly, Sam throws a biscuit to Chase. Clever Chase goes for the biscuit and Sam manages to grab hold of him.

Chase isn't too big to pick up and Sam carries him back to the house. He passes Amber who is waiting at the bus stop with some friends. They are too busy gabbing to notice him or at least they pretend not to notice him which suits Sam just fine. He doesn't want to be noticed.

But when Chase sees Amber, he starts barking madly again and tries to squirm out of Sam's arms. Sam holds on tighter this time and doesn't let him go. That's enough of your bad tricks this morning, scolds Sam.

The girls smile at the puppy. Sam remembers he is still in his pajamas. Heat rises in his cheeks, fogging his glasses. He hurries in the front door.

Good work Sam, shouts Mom from the kitchen. Now you better hurry.

Sam leaves the puppy with Mom and hurries upstairs. If he misses the bus, he will have to ride his bike like a madman. Oh well, Sam thinks, I wanted a puppy and now I have a puppy, and having Chase beats all.

The Ordinary World

Too much grave — too little gravy.

Death. The story begins with more of a grave than gravy. Mr. Scrooge's ordinary world is dead or dying. Mr. Scrooge is dying. How does the author tell us that:

• Very first sentence: "Marley was dead: to begin with."
• Scrooge was dead inside: "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled [sic] his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice."
• His office was dead: "he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas."
• His love was dead: "as if that [love] were the only one thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas."
• His charity was dead: "Are there no prisons?"
• No light at home: "Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it."
• Ghouls and gruel and no gravy: "a small fire in the grate; spoon and basin ready; and the little saucepan of gruel (Scrooge had a cold in his head) upon the hob."
• “Bah!” said Scrooge, “Humbug!”

The ordinary world is cold, dark, and hungry as death.

Call to the Adventure

Dead as a door nail.

"The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. "

Death, in the form of Marley, comes calling with his own door knocker: or is the calling from a higher place?

"... his glance happened to rest upon a bell, a disused bell, that hung in the room, and communicated for some purpose now forgotten with a chamber in the highest story of the building. It was with great astonishment, and with a strange, inexplicable dread, that as he looked, he saw this bell begin to swing. It swung so softly in the outset that it scarcely made a sound; but soon it rang out loudly, and so did every bell in the house."

Refusal of the Call

Bah. Humbug.

The spirits come calling but Scrooge does not listen. “It's humbug still!” said Scrooge. “I won't believe it."

Meeting the Mentor

Even the mentor is dead.

But Marley comes with a gift: “I am here to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer.”

Crossing the Threshold

The very air is full of death.

"The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went."

Mr. Scrooge is about to enter the spirit world.

“I—I think I'd rather not,” said Scrooge.

Test, Allies, Enemies

Remembering life.

“You will be haunted ... by Three Spirits.”

The Ghost of Christmas Past

'“Good Heaven!” said Scrooge, ... I was a boy here!” ... He was conscious of a thousand odours floating in the air, each one connected with a thousand thoughts, and hopes, and joys, and cares long, long, forgotten!'

And so begins Scrooge's journey through time.

First, Ebenezer is reminded of his childhood loneliness at boarding school, and of the love he received from his big-hearted sister, Fan. Scrooge is "uneasy in his mind" to remember his nephew Fred. Like his mother, Fred has a big heart and an enthusiasm for Christmas. Scrooge turned down Fred's invitation to join him at Christmas dinner.

“I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. We have never had any quarrel, to which I have been a party. But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and I'll keep my Christmas humour to the last. So A Merry Christmas, uncle!"

Next Ebenezer remembers the kindness and generousity of first boss, Fezziwig. To his profit, Scrouge defends Fezziwig's generosity of spirit.

"He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count 'em up: what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune. ... I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now."

Finally we see Ebenezer lose his love - Belle.

“You fear the world too much,” she answered, gently. “All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you."

And to his profit, Scrouge realizes he hasn't just lost Belle, but the love of children he might have had himself.

"He thought that such another creature, quite as graceful and as full of promise, might have called him father, and been a spring-time in the haggard winter of his life, his sight grew very dim indeed."

Very dim indeed: in fact, Scrouge puts the light out.

Approaching the innermost darkness

Joy and suffering. What is at stake?

The Ghost of Christmas Present

'“Come in!” exclaimed the Ghost. “Come in! and know me better, man!” ... In easy state upon this couch, there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see; who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's horn.'

The Ghost of Christmas Present has plenty of joy. This spirit strives to show Scrooge that joy in others, who celebrate Christmas despite their circumstances.

"And perhaps it was the pleasure the good Spirit had in showing off this power of his, or else it was his own kind, generous, hearty nature, and his sympathy with all poor men, that led him straight to Scrooge's clerk's; for there he went, and took Scrooge with him, holding to his robe;"

Scrooge visits many merry places and, to his credit, his mood lifts significantly. But then the spirit shows Scrooge one thing more — his children, or the children of man:

"They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, cragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. ... ignorance and want."

Scrooge is shown not the children of love, but the ill-used children of prisons and workhouses — also a product of the present times and the very institutions Scrooge supports.

“If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race,” returned the Ghost, “will find him [Tiny Tim] here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

Ordeal

Ask not for whom the bell tolled.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come — Definitely not Gravy

"The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently, approached" and showed Scrooge he too is likely to die and decrease the surplus population: who mourns?

Businessmen will come to his funeral only for a free lunch. Workers steal and pawn his bed clothing. Someone in his debt can't help rejoice. The Cratchet's are consumed with their own greater grief. His business has been replaced. There is nothing left for Scrooge but to kneel at his own graveside.

"Holding up his hands in a last prayer to have his fate reversed, he saw an alteration in the Phantom's hood and dress. It shrunk, collapsed, and dwindled down into a bedpost."

Reward

Getting another chance at living.

“I don't know what to do!” cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoön of himself with his stockings. “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy.”

His prayer is answered. Scrooge is not dead and he didn't miss Christmas!

Road Back

Resetting the balance (with a little gravy).

What steps does Mr. Scrooge take?

• Charity: A Turkey for Bob Cratchet: "Do you know whether they've sold the prize Turkey that was hanging up there?"
• Charity: A large donation to a charitable organization (whispered).
• Benevolence: 'He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four goodhumoured fellows said, “Good morning, sir! A merry Christmas to you!” '
• Benevolence: Accepting the dinner invitation: “It's I. Your uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner. Will you let me in, Fred?”
• Forbearance "I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of punch, Bob! "

Resurrection

Learning to laugh at oneself.

"Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; ... His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him."

Return with the Elixir

Keeping the laughter going.

"It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge."