The Architectonics of Scrooge’s Conversion in A Christmas Carol

This article discusses the persuasiveness of Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation from cold-hearted miser to generous businessman on the basis of M. M. Bakhtin’s theory of fictional language and architectonics. Harry Stone claims that ghost story elements allow A Christmas Carol to deal with both the real and the ideal and to secure the aesthetic justification of Scrooge’s transformation. From Bakhtin’s perspective, however, Stone overlooks the feet that other genre elements in language art are typified utterances. Dickens uses ghost story elements to expand time and space in the novel and articulates his criticism of the laissez-faire economic theory that dominated British society in the 1840s. Despite this successful incorporation of other genre elements, the Carol has a critical weakness in that it offers scant details regarding the emotion and insights experienced by Scrooge through his encounters with three Christmas ghosts. Although Dickens tries to use these ghost story elements to address the basic concrete moments of novel architectonics: T-for-myself, the-other-for-me, and T-for-the-other, Scrooge’s transformation remains so abrupt as create an absurd experience for many readers who are not ready to sympathize with him. This problematic architectonics in turn makes Scrooge’s transformation sudden and less persuasive. (Chosun University)