To my great shame, I haven’t read the book, but based on the different movie adaptations I’ve seen, another interpretation could be simply that he ate some dinner that disagreed with him, and then just had some bad dreams for the second panel.
You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!
on second notes: i have been waiting, uh, 10,480 days to use that pun. i even started cooking fancy french gravies at holiday meals and family dinners. does anyone compliment my gravies? no. they always compliment my sauces so i have to wait.
What I never got about this, was it a common thing at the time for bad food to cause bad dreams? I’ve had plenty of indigestion and related discomfort but I don’t think it’s ever caused bad dreams.
I don’t know about common, but it is very much a thing that certain foods can make for weird dreams. Usually, it’s food that can really mess with your blood sugar while you sleep, like pasta or sweets, or things that can produce mild discomfort that then keeps your mind a little bit awake and dreaming at times, like spicy food.
Of course there’s a huge variety of foods that can have those same generic effects, but needless to say, spoiled or undercooked food can also make for a bit of an uncomfortable night!
You never had Victorian England food poisoning though. If the food manages to make you sicker than the poop river to notice it, I’m sure it was a bad time.
I have read it many times and I agree that the story is about a dream/nightmare Ebeneezer has on Christmas Eve. I always saw the story as an old rich man had who does not have much longer to live reflects on his life. He decides he still has time to try and change with what little time he has left.
I think it really could have been framed many ways. Many people reflect on their lives on New Year’s Eve or their birthdays. I think Dickens just decided to choose Christmas for his story.
EDIT: In short, man nearing end of life has existential crisis in dream.
I’m reading it for the first time this year, downloaded for free from Gutenberg.org.
Grabbed it right after watching Muppet Christmas Carol and once I finish I’ll watch Spirited. Scrooged is of course saved for Christmas Eve.
Also been thinking about throwing into the mix that one episode of Real Ghostbusters where they go back in time and unwittingly catch the three ghosts which screws up the timeline because of the unrepentant Scrooge that results.
To my great shame, I haven’t read the book, but based on the different movie adaptations I’ve seen, another interpretation could be simply that he ate some dinner that disagreed with him, and then just had some bad dreams for the second panel.
on second notes: i have been waiting, uh, 10,480 days to use that pun. i even started cooking fancy french gravies at holiday meals and family dinners. does anyone compliment my gravies? no. they always compliment my sauces so i have to wait.
28.69 (nice) years is a long way. Good gravy.
What I never got about this, was it a common thing at the time for bad food to cause bad dreams? I’ve had plenty of indigestion and related discomfort but I don’t think it’s ever caused bad dreams.
I don’t know about common, but it is very much a thing that certain foods can make for weird dreams. Usually, it’s food that can really mess with your blood sugar while you sleep, like pasta or sweets, or things that can produce mild discomfort that then keeps your mind a little bit awake and dreaming at times, like spicy food.
Of course there’s a huge variety of foods that can have those same generic effects, but needless to say, spoiled or undercooked food can also make for a bit of an uncomfortable night!
You never had Victorian England food poisoning though. If the food manages to make you sicker than the poop river to notice it, I’m sure it was a bad time.
I have read it many times and I agree that the story is about a dream/nightmare Ebeneezer has on Christmas Eve. I always saw the story as an old rich man had who does not have much longer to live reflects on his life. He decides he still has time to try and change with what little time he has left.
I think it really could have been framed many ways. Many people reflect on their lives on New Year’s Eve or their birthdays. I think Dickens just decided to choose Christmas for his story.
EDIT: In short, man nearing end of life has existential crisis in dream.
I’m reading it for the first time this year, downloaded for free from Gutenberg.org.
Grabbed it right after watching Muppet Christmas Carol and once I finish I’ll watch Spirited. Scrooged is of course saved for Christmas Eve.
Also been thinking about throwing into the mix that one episode of Real Ghostbusters where they go back in time and unwittingly catch the three ghosts which screws up the timeline because of the unrepentant Scrooge that results.