Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol is the story of the mean and pusillanimous Ebenezer Scrooge, whose mind gets blown after he's visited by the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Inspired by the ghastly conditions in which the poorest children of London lived and worked, Dickens wanted to do something to change the situation, but was at odds about how to help matters. He was going to write a pamphlet that was an appeal to reform, but after giving a speech to a cha