In the article “The Ceremony of Innocents: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol”, author Gilbert Elliot objective is to convince readers of Scrooge’s true innocents. Many skeptics argue that Scrooge’s overnight change is certain to not last due to the person he was before his visit by the ghosts. Elliot argues that as people grow, so do their perspectives on life, ultimately obscuring their innocents. Elliot argues that this obscured innocents is never truly lost and that given enough time, it can be found once again. This renewal of innocents is the reason for Scrooge’s genuine sudden change in character and perceptive on life. Elliot perspective of Scrooge is different from many other critiques. Elliot understands Scrooge as a man searching of this own…show more content… No matter how far someone has fallen off their path in life, there is always hope to redeem one’s self and to become what they once were. In the case of “A Christmas Carol”, this act of realization comes in what Elliot calls Scrooge’s rebirth. Reborn with the innocents he once had, Scrooge vows to live a different life, a life in which he appreciates all “the Past, the Present, and the Future”. Elliot goes on to state that Scrooge in fact was already living in the past, the present, and the future but only in terms of a material reality. A reality in which Scrooge believed that only his own success and riches mattered in truly fulfilling the emptiness within his life. After his rebirth, Scrooge can finally see what truly matters in life, and understands that no amount of material wealth can fulfill him. By living in the past, present and future Scrooges greatest fear no longer had a hold on him, that he was set free terrors of time and death. He could once again live a life full of his once lost innocents not fearing time and its enviable
