OMG, those kids! I forgot about them. So creepy. Ignorance and Want: "most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom ..." Way to warn humanity about the perils of ignorance, Dickens!
This is my absolute favourite part of the book. Reading it for the first time, this is where I understood this was more than a classic Christmas story.
The depiction of Ignorance and Want as malnourished, ghastly children is such a gut-punch and that they are attached to the Ghost of Present and not Past or Future makes a horrible kind of sense.
Also, this:
"This boy is Ignorance. Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end!"
I really wish this would not be so poignant in 2022.
I like the idea that Scrooge's time with the second spirit goes on for a while, as the spirit aged and "taught Scrooge his precepts". It's hard to convey a montage in written form (and in any event this is all timey-wimey) but I appreciate the indications that Scrooge sees a lot of different circumstances and people throughout this passage. To me it helps better develop/substantiate his <spoiler>ultimate change of heart</spolier>.
OMG, those kids! I forgot about them. So creepy. Ignorance and Want: "most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom ..." Way to warn humanity about the perils of ignorance, Dickens!
This is my absolute favourite part of the book. Reading it for the first time, this is where I understood this was more than a classic Christmas story.
The depiction of Ignorance and Want as malnourished, ghastly children is such a gut-punch and that they are attached to the Ghost of Present and not Past or Future makes a horrible kind of sense.
Also, this:
"This boy is Ignorance. Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end!"
I really wish this would not be so poignant in 2022.
Dickens revealing his skill at being absolutely terrifying with the description of the two children
I like the idea that Scrooge's time with the second spirit goes on for a while, as the spirit aged and "taught Scrooge his precepts". It's hard to convey a montage in written form (and in any event this is all timey-wimey) but I appreciate the indications that Scrooge sees a lot of different circumstances and people throughout this passage. To me it helps better develop/substantiate his <spoiler>ultimate change of heart</spolier>.
Terrifyingly valid. The horrors of Ignorance and Want, with Ignorance associated with Doom...