Also, it is usually entirely out of practice for me to do drafts of papers. I am much more practiced at writing the paper in one go, making sure it's all spelled right, then printing and turning it in the next day (which is usually when it's due, because procrastination is for pros who like to crastinate). However, this first draft was actually going to be graded. In fact, that's probably what made the first draft so weird - I knew I'd have to go back and change it, so I figured it'd be alright to have fun with it. Sure, let's go with that.
Money Can't Buy You Happiness (so you'll just have to rent it)
It is easy to be philanthropic when you are just talking, but when it comes down to your own personal possessions, how charitable are you really? This human nature is one of the ideas behind Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Scrooge, a miserly old codger, was once a nice, regular young man. Over time, his success and acquisitions and bitterness turned him into a greedy, self-centered old man with no friends. Such a predictable connection between money and greed is common among humans - it is burned into our sociological structure (it is the reason why Communism does not work in execution, but it sounds good in theory). Unfortunately, this results in those who deserve or even need money oftentimes end up lacking in funds, whereas the dirt bags and narcissistic loners often have money and refuse to share it. That, however, is the nature of the world - many would call it unfair, but it is how it is. You cannot fix it and it affects everybody in the world.
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol has become wildly popular over the years. It has been transformed into annual theatrical performances and popular children's character adaptations in both movie and book form. This timeless classic is a good place to turn for a lesson in the transforming power of money. Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843, along with 15 novels and quite a slew of short stories. One of the things Charles Dickens was most famous for is his ability to capture minor details and to give his characters.
humorous subplots in the bleak 19th-century background. Dickens himself was victim of money troubles in his early years. His family's poverty forced him out of school at age 12 to work in a shoe-polish factory, where he was ridiculed by older boys. His father spent a stint in prison for debt, and upon release Charles got a better job and started on what would become his lifetime career, writing. He submitted sketches to The Monthly Magazine and grew close to the editor and his daughter, Catherine Hogarth, whom he would later marry funded by a publication of the sketches he had submitted. The tragedies Dickens suffered in his early days would become the foundation for many of his novels, but only had an influence on some of the backgrounds of A Christmas Carol's characters.
Among the chief social points in A Christmas Carol, evident from the beginning, is greed. Ebenezer Scrooge is billed as being the greediest, oldest, ugliest man in town. It is said that Scrooge's old friend, "Bob" Marley, tried to contest him for that title, but he died before his plan came to fruition. It is said that this twist made Scrooge all the more introverted, since he was vain enough to desire the contest, just so he could out-do Marley yet again. One day, Christmas eve in fact, Scrooge was coming home from overworking his current business partner, Cratchet - who felt sorry for Scrooge and his wealth, for he had no friends and only a nephew whom Scrooge deeply despised. This occurred in the money shop just before Scrooge chased out some charity collecting gents. Scrooge's greed has served him well throughout the years, but when the ghosts come and give him a good earful, he realizes that his money can be used to do things for those who have no money, and then the people will all love him and he can be more than just the greediest, oldest, ugliest man - he can be the nicest, oldest, ugliest man. Upon this revelation, Scrooge blossoms into a beautiful man overnight in midst of his slumber. And it is said that Scrooge's heart grew three sizes that day, for he then buys a huge turkey and gives it to Cratchet, then invites himself to their dinner. However, all is good and well, since he did, after all, buy the food and carry the cripple child upon his shoulders with his newfound strength of 10 Grinches, plus two. And it is said that Scrooge himself carved the roast beast.
You may notice that this just sort of... ends. Very suddenly. Well, that's because there's 6 pages to this first draft, and even I realize that's alot to read in leisure. So the rest of it will go up thursday, everybody.
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