Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is a classic holiday story known and loved by many, but are you familiar with the inspiration behind it?
When Dickens was 10, his parents could no longer afford his schooling costs. He was sent to work in a London blacking factory where they made polish for metal surfaces. The conditions at the rat-infested factory were horrible, and his co-workers bullied him.
When his father, mother and younger siblings were sent to debtors’ prison, 12-year-old Charles stayed with an elderly family friend so he could continue working at the factory, which he hated.
Throughout his life, Dickens harbored anger and bitterness at his father, John, over their family circumstances. When writing “A Christmas Carol,” Dickens used his bitterness toward his own father as inspiration for the character of Scrooge.
It has been said that the chains of relationships go with us to the grave.