Wood on Words: Miracle ties Christmas tales together
Christmas has inspired many wonderful tales and characters in a variety of media, although none can match the original story from 2,000 years ago for staying power and influence.
In the secular canon, the most powerful and enduring is "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. As a young boy, Dickens experienced the devastating effects of poverty (his father spent some time in debtors' prison) and the dehumanizing conditions faced by workers in the Industrial Revolution (he worked 10-hour days affixing labels to bottles of shoe polish).
He also worked part of his teen years as a law clerk and later as a court stenographer, where he got an insider's view of the legal system. At 22, he was a political journalist, acquiring knowledge of how government worked.
By age 24, he was a successful author. He was a masterful storyteller as well as a satirist and crusader, and all his talents and causes are in evidence in "A Christmas Carol," which appeared in 1843.
The central character, Ebenezer Scrooge, is one of the most memorable ever created, and his last name, even lowercase, has become synonymous with "a hard, miserly misanthrope." (A misanthrope, from the Greek for "hating mankind," is "a person who hates or distrusts all people.")
Scrooge also memorialized the oft-quoted expression of disgust, "Bah! Humbug!"
Of nearly equal villainy, but of much more recent vintage, is the Grinch, a monstrous character created by Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"
The book appeared in 1957. The story and its vile lead character gained an even higher profile in 1966 when Geisel teamed with Warner Brothers cartoon legend
Chuck Jones on an animated version, which was given an additional boost by the inspired choice of Boris Karloff as the narrator.
The Grinch not only disliked Christmas, but also he didn't want anyone else to be able to enjoy it. His name also has entered our vocabulary as a synonym for "killjoy" or "spoilsport."
Interestingly, although Scrooge and the Grinch are thus remembered because of their extremely negative qualities and deeds, both are reformed by the time their stories end. Their redemption through understanding the true meaning of the season is the whole point, yet their villainy is so distinctive that their names are associated with "before" and not "after."
Each of their transformations is, in a sense, a "miracle," a word often associated with religion but by no means exclusive to it. The word "miracle" comes from the Latin for "a strange thing," which in turn is derived from the verb for "to wonder at."
So, in general terms, a miracle is any unusual or unexpected event that people marvel at or that fills them with wonder.
If you're a fan of classic Christmas movies, you probably can see where this is leading: "Miracle on 34th Street" and "It's a Wonderful Life."
The former, released in 1947, contains a surprising number of modern themes: the challenges faced by a single working mom; the often crass commercialism of Christmas; the effects of politics in the judicial system; and believers vs. nonbelievers, to name a few.
The latter film, which appeared in 1946, was directed by Frank Capra. Just before that film was released, Capra made films for the U.S. Army during World War II. Two other people who worked in that film division: Theodor Seuss Geisel and Chuck Jones.
It really has been a wonderful life.
Barry Wood is a senior copy editor at the Rockford Register Star. Contact him at bwood@rrstar.com.