Ebenezer Scrooge is the exact hero we need right now
I often ask my students: Who is literature’s greatest hero? If you’ll pardon the pun, this is far from a novel question. A simple Google search will return hundreds of lists on the subject. Most lists are topped by the usual suspects: Atticus Finch from “To Kill a Mockingbird,” John Proctor from “The Crucible,” Matilda Wormwood from “Matilda.”
As a veteran educator and lifelong reader, I can tell you: The internet rankings are wrong. Literature’s No. 1 hero is Ebenezer Scrooge. Don’t let his cantankerous disposition trick you. It is solely Scrooge who thwarts what would’ve been the most tragic ending ever told.
Unless you’ve been in a bomb shelter since birth, you already know: The novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens tells the story of Scrooge, an 1840s London-based lender who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, and the spirits of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come. Following these nocturnal calls, Scrooge awakens on Christmas Day a kinder, gentler man.
The name Scrooge, of course, conjures images of an irritable old man who cares about his money and nothing else. In 1982, the word “Scrooge” was added to the Oxford-English dictionary as a synonym for “miser.”
“Scrooge. He’s grumpy,” said Alejandra Campbell, a high school senior I interviewed.
I contend the principles of sacrifice (lest we forget: Scrooge gave up his beautiful Belle to climb the corporate ladder) and innovation practiced by Scrooge should not be condemned; they should be celebrated. This oft-adapted portrayal of him as a snake oil salesman is pure folly. Scrooge lends money and charges interest on repayment. Who among us has not agreed to a similar arrangement with our bank or credit union. Furthermore, why do we dislike Scrooge’s frugality? Would we prefer he flaunt his wealth? Or rip through his fortune, then have the proletariat bail him out?
To those who fault Scrooge for rebuking his nephew Fred’s invitation to Christmas dinner, keep in mind: “A Christmas Carol” takes place during the Victorian era, a time when the English were only initially exploring current traditions, such as greeting cards and family gatherings. Scrooge’s resistance would be entirely reflective of the period. To put this in today’s terms: If a millennial or Gen Zer asked me to perform a Christmas-themed TikTok, I’d probably say, “Bah humbug,” too.
This, I suppose, brings us to Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s so-called underpaid clerk. In the annals of history, Cratchit has come to symbolize the poor conditions, long hours and low pay endured by working-class people. Contrary to popular belief, Cratchit is actually overpaid.
His weekly salary is cited as 15 shillings, while the average clerk of that era earned 11 shillings, meaning Cratchit pulled down a senior-level paycheck.
Even more important than the lavish wages Scrooge pays Cratchit is what he does for Tiny Tim, Cratchit’s sickly son. Medical experts believe Tim’s symptoms indicate rickets, a potentially fatal condition. If Scrooge were not to decide to fund treatment, the boy would prematurely — and tragically — die, leaving Bob a broken man, as demonstrated by the spirit of Christmas Yet to Come.
I believe, if Dickens had written an epilogue to “A Christmas Carol,” it might’ve gone something like this: After raising Cratchit’s salary and making him a partner in the business, Scrooge passes away, leaving his clients and assets to Cratchit, instantly transforming the once-”underpaid” clerk into a powerful aristocrat. As for Tiny Tim, he goes on to live a long, healthy life. “God bless us, everyone!”
Scrooge’s heroism is more than fodder for a good story. It also enacted real-world change. In 1844, the Gentleman’s Magazine attributed a rise of charitable giving in England to Dickens’ novella. Regarding the novella, author G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The beauty and blessing of the story ... lie in the great furnace of real happiness that glows through Scrooge.”
“Scrooge is all of us,” said Kevin Sheehan, a 40-year-old father of three I interviewed. “That’s why he makes us so uncomfortable.”
Since its publication almost 200 years ago, “A Christmas Carol” has been adapted across every imaginable medium.
Per entertainment publication Collider, the 1951 film “A Christmas Carol,” starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge, is considered the finest big-screen version. As a child of the 1980s and ’90s, I’m partial to Bill Murray as TV executive Frank Cross in 1988’s “Scrooged.” Some more modern spins include a 2019 miniseries, 2022’s animated “Scrooge: A Christmas Carol” and Will Ferrell’s “Spirited.”
Scrooge is more than a fictitious hero. He’s a hero for the real world. A man who goes from the bottom to the top, who works hard to earn an honest dollar, who knows there are no shortcuts to success. Scrooge might be the exact hero we need right now.
Then again, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Scrooge’s late-in-life evolution has nothing to do with heroism. Maybe it comes from something other than a gaggle of ghosts. Maybe Scrooge simply goes to bed on Christmas Eve as a Republican and wakes up on Christmas morning as a Democrat.
“Scrooge represents an individual’s ability to reflect, confront, change,” social studies teacher Kyle Dalton said. “We should all give that a try.”
Brian Huba is a writer whose essays have appeared in the Wilderness House Literary Review, bioStories, Men Matters Online Journal, the Superstition Review, In Parentheses and the Satirist. He has taught high school English for 18 years.