The connection between Christmas carols and midnight library in my opinion

 The connection between Christmas carols and midnight library in my opinion

Excerpt 1:

“No, Spirit! Oh no, no! Spirit! hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope? Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me by an altered life."

For the first time, the kind hand faltered.

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. O, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!"

     --Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Stave 4

 

 

Excerpt 2:

As she spoke, Mrs Elm’s eyes came alive, twinkling like puddles in moonlight.

‘Between life and death there is a library,’ she said. ‘And within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be different if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?’

‘So, I am dead?’ Nora asked.

Mrs Elm shook her head. ‘No. Listen carefully. Between life and death.’ She gestured vaguely

along the aisle, towards the distance. ‘Death is outside.’

 

     --Matt Haig, The Midnight Library, p. 32

 

This is an excerpt from two of my favorite novels I read this semester, and I would like to analyze the connection between these two novels. These two excerpts are connected by a similar theme: regret for past mistakes, and whether it is possible to correct those mistakes and live differently. In the excerpt from A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge has just seen his own grave, and begs the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come to send him back to his life so that he can “change these shadows” by living “an altered life.” He says he will honor the spirit of Christmas—kindness, generosity, caring for others—in his heart, “and try to keep it all the year.”

 

Similarly, in the excerpt from The Midnight Library, Mrs. Elm explains to Nora that in the library, “Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be different if you had made other choices.” Each book provides a “chance to undo your regrets,” just like Scrooge returning to his old life and changing his ways. Mrs. Elm also says that the library is “Between life and death […] Death is outside.” This is similar to Scrooge’s experience, which is like a dream or a vision, something between life and death.

 

There are some important differences between these excerpts, however. I think the most important difference is that Nora, at this point, still wants to be dead. She does not want to go back to her old life. But Scrooge, having seen that no one will regret his death when he dies, is desperate to return and live a better life. I think this may be in part because the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is such a frightening figure. He has scared Scrooge into thinking about his mistakes and wanting to change. Whereas Mrs. Elm is a comforting figure for Nora, so Nora isn’t frightened of death at this point and isn’t sure she wants to go back to life.

 

Personally, I like the character of Mrs. Elm better, but I find the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come much more dramatic and memorable. I also like Charles Dickens’ writing style better. His style and vocabulary, such as his use of the word “spirit” to refer to the ghosts, are a little old-fashioned now, but that helps me to better imagine life in 19th-century England.

 

 

                             I  watched a movie about Christmas carols at the same time. Sunday, December. 3rd,2023. 

                             (WKU/ Ge Saier) 2023/12/17

 

Have you read these two novels and have your own feelings about them? If you haven't read them before, we strongly recommend that you read them.