Commentary
The opening Stave of A Christmas Carol sets the mood, describes the setting, and introduces many of the principal characters. It also establishes the novel's allegorical structure. (Allegory, a type of narrative in which characters and events represent particular ideas or themes, relies heavily on symbolism. In this case, Scrooge represents greed, apathy, and all that stands in opposition to the Christmas spirit. Bob personifies those who suffer under the "Scrooges" of the world--the English poor. Fred serves to remind readers of the joy and good cheer of the Christmas holiday.) The opening section also highlights the novel's narrative style--a peculiar and highly Dickensian blend of wild comedy (note the description of Hamlet a passage that foreshadows the entrance of the ghosts) and atmospheric horror (the throng of spirits eerily drifting through the fog just outside Scrooge's window).

The allegorical nature of A Christmas Carol leads to relatively simplistic symbolism and a linear plot. The latter is divided into five Staves, each containing a distinct episode in Scrooge's spiritual re-education. The first Stave centers on the visitation from Marley's ghost, the middle three present the tales of the three Christmas spirits, and the last concludes the story, showing how Scrooge has changed from an inflexible curmudgeon to a warm and joyful benefactor. Underlying the narrative and paralleling the more ostensible theme of moral redemption, lies an incisive political diatribe. Dickens takes aim at the Poor Laws then governing the underclass of Victorian England. He exposes the flaws of the unfair system of government that essentially restricts the underclass to life in prison or in a workhouse. (Dickens' own father served time in debtor's prison.) Dickens' sympathetic portrayal of Bob Cratchit and his family puts a human face on the lower classes. Through Scrooge's implic it defense of the Poor Laws (his argument that prisons are the only "charity"