A Christmas Carol

I. About the Novel

A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.
The book was written at a time when the British were examining and exploring Christmas traditions from the past as well as new customs such as Christmas cards and Christmas trees. Carol singing took a new lease of life during this time. Dickens' sources for the tale appear to be many and varied, but are, principally, the humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.
A Christmas Carol is very famous novel. It is used for movie, opera etc...  

Works Cited （参考文献）

"A Christmas Carol" Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web.7. Dec. 2016. 

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol>

II. Versions of the Novel in the Mass Media

"Christmas Carol" has various types of versions.
so,　I introduce part.

Movie Version
Christmas Carol (1910)

The earliest version of A Christmas Carol was this 1910 short film directed by J Searle Dawley for none other than Thomas Edison’s film production company. 

Despite lasting only a little over 13 minutes, and with the medium of film itself only in its infancy, the director makes a pretty decent go of including the important points of Dickens’ story, and even does an effective job of showing the various ghosts on screen.

Christmas Carol(2001)

The Movie is a 2001 British American live action/animated film based on Charles Dickens's classic novella. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami, the film features the voices of numerous actors including Simon Callow, Kate Winslet (who also sang the film's theme "What If"), Kate's sister Beth Winslet, and Nicolas Cage. This version differs from others, in that Scrooge is given another chance with the love of his life, Belle, who ended their engagement in their youth after he was corrupted by greed; they later meet again after the three spirits have reformed Scrooge and he is now kind and generous, causing Belle to love him again.

Musical version

A Christmas Carol premiered on 1 December 1994. It was performed annually in December at the Paramount Theatre in Madison Square Garden from December 1994 until December 2003.
The original 1994 production was directed by Mike Ockrent with choreography by Susan Stroman, sets by Tony Walton, costumes by William Ivey Long, lighting by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, sound by Tony Meoloa, and musical direction by Paul Gemignani. Walter Charles played Ebenezer Scrooge.
Terrence Mann, Tony Randall, Hal Linden, Roddy McDowall (in his final role), F. Murray Abraham, Frank Langella, Tim Curry, Tony Roberts, Roger Daltrey and Jim Dale have all played the iconic role of Ebenezer Scrooge in subsequent productions of A Christmas Carol.
In 2004, the production was adapted for television and produced by Hallmark Entertainment for NBC. It was directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman and features Kelsey Grammer as Ebenezer Scrooge, Jason Alexander as Jacob Marley, Jesse L. Martin as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Jennifer Love Hewitt as Scrooge's former fiancée.

Works Cited （参考文献）

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?ref=SERP&br=ro&mkt=ja-JP&dl=ja&lp=EN_JA&a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.denofgeek.com%2fmovies%2f23887%2fa-christmas-carol-the-best-and-worst-adaptations

"A Christmas Carol:The Movie" Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web.14. Dec. 2016.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Carol:_The_Movie>

"A Christmas Carol (misical)" Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web.14. Dec. 2016.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol_(musical)>

III. About the Author

Charles John Huffam Dickens (/ˈdɪkᵻnz/; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
He wrote such "A Christmas Carol", "Oliver Twist","Great Expectations"and "A Tale of Two Cities" .
They are popular all over the would.

Works Cited （参考文献）
"Charles Dickens" Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web.14. Dec. 2016.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens>

IV. My Reaction

A. Reaction Point - Protagonist

• 定義 Main character
• 例 "Scrooge is a cold, hard man.He loves money, and he doesn't like people. He really does't like Christmas."
• 略 A main character of Christmas carol is a person spending the days when are totally unrelated to an egoist, warmth or the love of the human heart.

B. Reaction Point -　Donouement

• 定義　The ending of a story or a plot
• 例 "Scrooge is a cold, hard man.He loves money, and he doesn't like people. He really does't like Christmas. But then some ghosts visit him. They show him his past, his life now, and a possible future. Will Scrooge learn from the ghosts? Can he change?"
• 略 Scrooge learned from some ghosts. and, he know that he may still change the future such as the nightmare that he experienced.

C. Reaction Point - Appeal

• 定義 The reason(s) a story is liked or enjoyed
• 例 Some ghosts
• 略 Some ghosts come out to this story. This is the unique point of this story.
  
  

D. My General Opinion

I did't know this story. but I read this story and was impressed very much.
The figure of Scrooge which changed through some ghosts was impressed very much.
I felt that I appealed for that person can change.

I like "Christmas Carol" very much!!