A Childs Dream of a Star Charles Dickens - THERE was once a child, and he strolled about a good deal, and thought of a number of things. He had a sister, who was a child too, and his constant companion. These two used to wonder all day long. They wondered at the beauty of the flowers; they wondered at the height and blueness of the sky; they wondered at the depth of the bright water; they wondered at the goodness and the power of GOD who made the lovely world.They used to say to one another, sometimes, Supposing all the children upon earth were to die, would the flowers, and the water, and the sky be sorry? They believed they would be sorry. For, said they, the buds are the children of the flowers, and the little playful streams that gambol down the hill-sides are the children of the water; and the smallest bright specks playing at hide and seek in the sky all night, must surely be the children of the stars; and they would all be grieved to see their playmates, the children of men, no more.This is a short story about a brother and sister who used to wonder about the stars all day long. On an ordinary day, one clear, shining star would appear before the rest, and every night they watched for it, standing hand in hand at a window. But while she was still very young, the sister died, breaking the little boys heart. One day, when the star made long rays down toward him, he saw his sisters angel through his tears. But, throughout his life, his sisters angel told him it was not time to join her. He lived a long, full life, and it was not until the old man died was he able to rejoin his sister.
En Los carillones, Trotty, apodo de Toby Veck, es un pobre hombre que para salir adelante entrega paquetes en cualquier punto de Londres. Toby padeceráuna extraordinaria e irracional experiencia la noche del 31 diciembre a los pies del campanario de la iglesia, donde suele pasar sus jornadas a la espera de alguna entrega. Su encuentro con William Fern y con la pequeña Lilian lo inducira a viajar al pasado, al presente y al futuro a cada nuevo toque de los carillones del campanario. Vera su presente pobreza, las expectativas que tenia para su familia cuando era joven, y la penuria en la que vive su adorada hija Meg. Vera que de las miseras condiciones de esta y de su novio solo se pueden esperar calamidades. Trotty vera a su pobre hija viuda y envejecida trabajando sin descanso. Decide intervenir para evitar ese matrimonio. Todo se aclara en el ultimo cuarto de las campanadas de medianoche, cuando Trotty despierta de las pesadillas causadas por una indigestion de callos. Comprende que lo mejor que puede desear para Meg es la felicidad que tuvo el mismo con su esposa.
''What was merry Christmas to Scrooge? Out upon merry Christmas! What good had it ever done to him?'' Ebenezer Scrooge is a bad-tempered skinflint who hates Christmas and all it stands for, but a ghostly visitor foretells three apparitions who will thaw Scrooge''s frozen heart. A Christmas Carol has gripped the public imagination since it was first published in 1843, and it is now as much a part of Christmas as mistletoe or plum pudding. This edition reprints the story alongside Dickens''s four other Christmas Books: The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man. All five stories show Dickens at his unpredictable best, jumbling together comedy and melodrama, genial romance and urgent social satire, in pursuit of his aim ''to awaken some loving and forbearing thoughts, never out of season in a Christian land''. ''A Christmas Carol] seems to be a national benefit, and to every man or woman who reads it a personal kindness.'' --William Makepeace Thackeray
El protagonista es el señor Ebenezer Scrooge, un hombre avaro y tacaño que no celebra la fiesta de Navidad a causa de su solitaria vida y su adicción al trabajo. No le importan los demás, ni siquiera su empleado Bob Cratchit, lo unico que le importan son los negocios y ganar dinero. Cuando van a pedirle dinero para los pobres, Scrooge dice "¿No hay prisiones? ¿No hay asilos?" y dice que, si la gente muere, se detendra la sobrepoblacion.
Sí...¡de un loco! ¿Como hubiera herido mi corazón esta palabra algunos años ¡ha! Como hubiera des-pertado el terror que de vez en cuando me acometía, haciendo que la sangre como fuego corriera por mis venas, hasta que el frio hielo del temor en gruesas gotas cubria mi piel, y mis rodillas temblaban de miedo!
Para muchos Dickens es el más grande de los novelistas ingleses. Si en todas sus novelas luce la fuerza creadora en proporciones sorprendentes y los mejores sentimientos fluyen caudalosos, en su David Copperfield esas y otras cualidades se prodigan como en ninguna otra.
