Mr. Dickens And His Carol

Dickens’s mental block is now at its worst, and he wavers between believing Forster’s warnings and trusting Eleanor. His frustration peaks at the suspicion that that Eleanor has lied to him, but he cannot stop thinking about her. He walks through London and finds himself near Marshalsea Prison, where his father was once sent as a debtor. The place brings out dark feelings and bad memories in him, and he wants to forget about the prison altogether.

When Dickens returns to Furnival’s, he finds his father waiting for him with the latest newspaper from The Times. John praises his son for the message in the newspaper, believing that Dickens’s declaration of his intention not to give money to his relatives is merely a joke. However, he is hurt when Dickens tells him that the message is no joke. Dickens says that he has always paid John’s debts and loans and has been bound by them for years. His father reproaches Dickens for telling him this near Christmas, and Dickens tells him that he remembers when his father left him on his own before Christmas. Now, he chastises John for conveniently forgetting that fact. Dickens then sends him away, but before he leaves, John tells him that he will always be proud of him.

Dickens writes extensively throughout the night. He is finally close to turning his story into a fully-formed Christmas book. When the clock chimes, he stops for the night and dons his disguise, going out into the fog. He goes to the Folly, but does not find Eleanor there, which confirms Macready’s doubts and Forster’s suspicions in his mind. However, he soon sees Eleanor leave the Folly in her purple cloak and follows her until she reaches a graveyard. He watches her standing and praying over a grave before leaning forward, getting up again, and leaving. Dickens sees that the name on the gravestone is Timothy Lovejoy.

He hears a sound and calls out. He then sees the boy with the sketchbook, whom he first saw in Covent Garden. Dickens demands that the boy reveal his identity. Scared, he trips and runs away, stealing Dickens’s hat in the process. Dickens manages to tear out a page from the sketchbook, which depicts him in his Scrooge disguise. Dickens chases the boy to Eleanor’s lodging house. There, Eleanor tells him that the boy is hiding from him. She confronts him about following her and entering her house. He then accuses her and the boy of conspiring against him and betraying him. She tells him that the boy, Timothy, loves him. He cannot speak, but he understands them. She chastises Dickens for scaring Timothy and reveals that the boy is her son; he was named after his father. At her insistence, Dickens apologizes to Timothy and offers to help him with his injured leg. Eleanor accepts this offer.

Dickens walks through London as himself and ends up outside of Bumble’s Toy Shop. He thinks about his children and Catherine and wonders about their Christmas. He takes in the atmosphere of Christmas in the markets at Covent Garden and finds himself delighted by a magician’s act, recognizing the “great desire to believe” (163) that encompasses all magic acts.

Dickens buy the magician’s set and performs magic for Timothy. He remembers his childhood desire to become a magician. At first, Timothy does not believe his magic act, but Dickens does a coin trick that amazes Timothy. He then helps Timothy with his ankle. Wanting to gain Timothy’s trust, he tells the boy about his quiet daughter, Mamie, and gives Timothy a specialized crutch to use until his leg heals. Dickens helps Timothy into a chair. Timothy then drops a locket, and Dickens looks at it, seeing a picture of Eleanor and a lock of her hair. He tells Timothy that the boy is fortunate to have Eleanor to love and care for him. He puts the locket back in Timothy’s collar and then leaves for good.

Dickens has just finished the Christmas book when Eleanor Lovejoy arrives at his room. She thanks him for helping her son. He tells her that he understands that she was avoiding him because he scared Timothy, but she says she avoided him because she has grown so fond of him. Dickens then offers to read her the finished book.

Dickens reads his book out loud to Eleanor, who is sitting in one of the chairs near him. He creates an acting performance out of his reading, a talent for which Macready, Thomas Carlyle, and others have praised him. When he finishes reading, Eleanor tells him that it is “quite a book” but “not quite to the point of Christmas” (172). She says that Scrooge is an unkind man and that his redemption begins too late in the story. Dickens wonders if he might need to change the name, but he wants to keep just a few Christmas elements. Dickens says he will send the book to the printers the next day and start anew. She mentions India and then tells Dickens that she cannot imagine a world in which his works did not exist. He tells her he is glad he came to know her, and they bid each other farewell soon after. He promises to tell her when his book is titled. After she leaves, he titles the book A Christmas Log. Satisfied, he leaves it on the desk and falls asleep in his chair.

When he wakes up, the manuscript is gone. He looks inside his room but cannot find it. Panicking, he asks the desk clerk, who says that five boys from the street came into Dickens’s room while he was sleeping. He goes into London to find them but is unsuccessful. When Forster blames Eleanor for the theft, Dickens grows offended and ends their friendship. As he continues his search, though, he has new doubts about Eleanor.

The following morning, the desk clerk knocks on Dickens’s door and tells him that the boys from the street want to talk to him. Dickens goes downstairs and questions the leader, who tells him that although they did not steal the book, they know who might have done so. They offer to take Dickens there and lead him to the Folly, where someone is already creating a plagiarized musical of his story. A young actor is having trouble understanding Scrooge’s motives for killing his nephew, and Dickens confronts the stage manager. He sees Eleanor, who admits that she had deceived him, but not for the reasons he believes. The leader of the boys then reveals the thief to be John Dickens. Though John tries to explain himself, the dejected Dickens leaves.

Dickens goes to Warren’s Blacking Warehouse, where he was once forced to work to pay off his father’s debt after John was sent to Marshalsea Prison. Eleanor appears, and he tells her that years ago, he was imprisoned shortly before Christmas and was forced to work off the family’s debt in John’s stead. He expresses his hurt at his father’s inability to support and care for his son. Eleanor tells him that these events hurt his father as well. Dickens is unsure what to do now that his Christmas book has been stolen, but she tells him to write a new Christmas book with greater depth of feeling. She emphasizes that his books helped her and her son after her husband died and says that his Christmas book must remind everyone that the world is still a kind, good place despite its suffering and cruelty. They comfort each other, and Eleanor encourages Dickens, saying, “[L]et the specter of your memory be the spark of your imagination” (189).