The Chimes: A Goblin Story

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The final words of The Chimes seem fitting So may the New Year be a happy one to you, happy to many more whose happiness depends on you! So may each year be happier than the last, and not the meanest of our brethren or sisterhood debarred their rightful share, in what our Great Creator formed them to enjoy. As the bells of a nearby church, known as the chimes, start to ring, Trotty is drawn to their magical sound. He climbs up to the bell tower, where he encounters a group of goblins who personify the bells and take him on a surreal journey. These goblins present Trotty with visions of potential futures that may occur in the lives of people he knows, including his daughter Meg. The Chimes was adapted into a 24-minute clay-animated film in 2000 by Xyzoo Animation. It won a Cine Special Jury award in 2002. [8] On New Year's Eve, Trotty, Meg and Richard have an encounter with some arrogant terrible men who are a higher social class than Trotty & co. These men make Trotty, Meg and Richard feel like they do not have a right to exist because they are so poor and a burden on society. Their words to Trotty and Meg just boiled my blood!

Things get worse and worse for Meg, until she finds herself standing at the edge of the river, preparing to throw herself and her baby into the cold waters below. At that point, like Ebenezer Scrooge with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Trotty begs the Spirits to relent, saying, “I know that we must trust and hope, and neither doubt ourselves, nor doubt the good in one another” (p. 106). And the manner in which the story resolves itself may seem somewhat familiar to readers of A Christmas Carol.

CHAPTER II—The Second Quarter.

Asking the upper classes to stop interfering with his life and leave him to die, Will Fern makes a bitter reference to the biblical Book of Ruth, deliberately misquoting Ruth's "Whither thou goest, I will go" speech. The three continually "put down" the engaged couples' plan to marry, drumming into them how selfish and irresponsible it would be. was, if it smelt like this,’ said Meg, cheerfully.‘Make haste, for there’s a hot potato besides, and

After the heavy dinner, Trotty falls into a deep dream state, where ghosts appear to him, this is followed by a series of visions in which he is forced to watch, helpless to interfere with the troubled lives of Meg, Richard and other friends over the subsequent years. Upon waking up, Trotty is happy to realize it was only a dream and is ecstatic to celebrate the new year with his daughter, neighbors and friends. A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", 1823) attributed to Clement Clarke Moore Later on, Trotty meets a man and his little orphaned niece. The homeless man is very poor and is on the verge of going to jail for some petty crime. Trotty invites the man and girl to come home with him and spends the little money he has on a hearty New Year’s Eve dinner for them. They had always been his clients, they had never been forgotten in any of his books, but here nothing else was to be remembered ... he had come to have as little faith for the putting down of any serious evil, as in a then notorious city alderman's gabble for the putting down of suicide. The latter had stirred his indignation to its depths just before he came to Italy, and his increased opportunities of solitary reflection since had strengthened and extended it. When he came therefore to think of his new story for Christmas time, he resolved to make it a plea for the poor ... He was to try and convert Society, as he had converted Scrooge, by showing that its happiness rested on the same foundations as those of the individual, which are mercy and charity not less than justice. [2]Twas the Night Before Christmas: Edited by Santa Claus for the Benefit of Children of the 21st Century" (2012) being Pamela McColl "smoke-free" edit of Clement Clarke Moore's poem To jail with him, for he's a vagrant, and a jail-bird known; and jail's the only home he's got ... don't set Jail, Jail, Jail 'afor us everywhere we turn." Toby reflects frequently upon his poverty, as when, one hungry night, he thinks about how “There’s nothing…more regular in its coming round than dinner-time, and nothing less regular in its coming round than dinner” (p. 8). He even wonders if poor people like himself even have a place in the world, considering the way he hears the poor denounced in the newspapers of his time:

At the end of the book, Trotty finds himself awakening at home as if from a dream as the bells ring in the New Year of the day Trotty originally climbed the tower. Meg and Richard have chosen to wed, Will discovers that their kind landlady is the old family friend he was in search of and thus presumably he and Lilian will now be all right, and all of their friends have spontaneously chosen to provide a wedding feast and celebration. The author explicitly invites the reader to decide if this "awakening" is a dream-within-a-dream. The reader must choose between the harsh consequences of the behaviour of the upper classes in Trotty's vision, or the happiness of the wedding. Upon returning to reality, Trotty realizes the importance of individual kindness and how a single act of goodwill can create a ripple effect, transforming the lives of others for the better. He is determined to bring positive change to society and becomes an advocate for the poor and oppressed. try to bear in mind the stern realities from which these shadows come; and in your sphere - none is too wide, and none too limited for such an end - endeavour to correct, improve , and soften them." A musical adaptation of The Chimes was created in 1992 by Lisa Kofod and Gay Donat Reed, with music by Paul Johnson. A staged reading of this work was produced at The Workhouse Theatre in New York City.

I grew up reading Spanish translations of classics like Oliver Twist, Alice in Wonderland, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Little Women and The Little Prince. Christmas Carol. Όπως και σε αυτό παρακολουθούμε την ιστορία ενός ανθρώπου που αμφισβητεί πάρα πολλά πράγματα για την ανθρώπινη φύση αλλά τελικά μία μεταφυσική παρέμβαση τον κάνει να ξανασκεφτεί τα πράγματα και να καταλάβει ότι μπορεί να κάνει πολλά πράγματα για να βελτιωθεί η ζωή του αλλά και οι ζωές των ανθρώπων που είναι γύρω του. Σε αντίθεση με την πιο γνωστή ιστορία, όμως, ο πρωταγωνιστής δεν είναι κάποιος πλούσιος αλλά ένας φτωχός γέρος εργαζόμενος. Ο συγγραφέας δεν θεωρεί επαρκή την δικαιολογία της φτώχειας και θεωρεί κατακριτέα αυτή την αντιμετώπιση της ζωής ως κάτι το πεζό και των ανθρώπων ως ανίκανων να καταφέρουν οτιδήποτε πέρα από την επιβίωση και την ικανοποίηση των εγωιστικών τους απαιτήσεων. Φυσικά σε καμία περίπτωση δεν έχουμε την άποψη ότι όλη η κοινωνία έχει το ίδιο μερίδιο ευθύνης, κάθε άλλο, ο συγγραφέας αντιμετωπίζει ειρωνικά αυτή την ιδέα, παρωδώντας εκείνους τους ανθρώπους των ανώτερων τάξεων που αυτοανακηρύσσονται ειδικοί και κατηγορούν τους φτωχούς ανθρώπους για τον τρόπο ζωής που αναγκάζονται να υιοθετήσουν εξαιτίας της κοινωνικής ανισότητας. In this frame of mind, Trotty echoes the opinions of the wealthy and the aristocrats who use Malthusian political economy to argue that the working class are troublesome and perhaps far too numerous. Through these visions, Trotty witnesses the devastating consequences of societal injustices and the plight of the poor and downtrodden. The goblins attempt to shake Trotty's faith in humanity further, but he ultimately resists their influence and clings to hope and compassion. As A Christmas Carol has the memorable subtitle A Ghost Story of Christmas, so The Chimes has its own subtitle: A Goblin Story of Some Bells That Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In. In both cases, the subtitle indicates that this story too will be doing a bit of a genre mash-up, incorporating Gothicism into a tale of the holiday season.

The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man". More seriously, Trotty debates who is worthy of time—that is, who is worthy of life. On a New Year’s Eve, he considers himself and his working-class fellows and muses that they are perhaps unworthy, We seem to give a deal of trouble; we are always being complained of and guarded against … supposing it should really be that we have no right to a New Year.arm’s-length, and looking in her face imploringly.‘The worst of all, the worst of all! Strike me old, The narrow space within which it was necessary to confine these Christmas Stories when they were originally published, rendered their construction a matter of some difficulty, and almost necessitated what is peculiar in their machinery. I could not attempt great elaboration of detail, in the working out of character within such limits. My chief purpose was, in a whimsical kind of masque which the good humour of the season justified, to awaken some loving and forbearing thoughts, never out of season in a Christian land." observed Sir Joseph, glancing at the poor man present.‘As such I may be taunted. As such I have been