Books

Introduction

All that glitters is not gold. This commonly used proverb seems to perfectly summarize

the situation at Nuance Group. The successful management consultancy services provider boosts of highly educated consultants, or so it claims. With such “decorated” professionals within its ranks, the firm is not shy of sending their credentials all over the world and displays the same on their website. However, when Dorfman Associates come looking for consultants, the beautiful rock disguised as gold is unmasked. What initially looked as a case of one fraudulent consultant soon blows out of proportion as more cases of professional misrepresentations are unearthed

among

the respected consultants. A crisis looms over Nuance Group and this call for crisis communication. Crisis communication helps organizations to tackle effectively any unfolding

decisive situation.

Analysis

Zaremba (2010) proposes that there are several categories of crises. Two categories, as outlined in the book, best describe the situation at Nuance Group. The firm is facing both reputational and human resource crises. The crisis is reputational as it threatens the glittering image of the consultancy firm. The image is very vital in consultancy services and if it becomes public knowledge that most consultants at Nuance Group have fake credentials, this can spell doom for the firm.

The firm is also facing human resource crisis (Zaremba, 2010). It now clear it does not have the apparently highly successful consultants as their biographical data claims. This is highlighted in the case of Patten who never attended Ivy League schools in the form of Yale University yet his credentials claim so. Swift decisions have to be made regarding those with fake credentials. Considerations also have to be made so that the firm does not lose some very

experienced consultants. The management should also weigh the business implications if the

firm retained some fraudulent individuals within its ranks.

The Nuance Group management also have to consider if they are responsible for the situation at hand. This is due to several decisions they made. They authorize 500 brochures on consultants` biographical information to be sent out to prospective clients all over the world. Similar data is uploaded to the group’s website. However, this is despite the fact that management has not authenticated the information provided by the consultants. This is illustrated when Patten`s superiors only confront him after being alerted by Dorfman. Such material oversight can best be described as negligence. The clients did not need the ornamental touch on the consultants` credentials which Patten`s boss eventually discover are “factually inaccurate”. Sending out unauthenticated credentials to customers meant the management failed to meet the thresholds of ethical communication (Zaremba, 2010).

The organizational and ethical culture at Nuance Group is questionable. This is illustrated when Patten is confronted by his superior. He does not seem apologetic even after putting the firm’s image on the line. He argues that he had been informally told to “put his best foot forward”. His boss does not refute the allegation and it seems the culture of deviance normalization has been inculcated in the firm. The phrase shows the consultancy firm may have been encouraging its employees to use underhand methods to boost the image of the firm. Though it is not documented, it would be interesting to know the punitive measures that were taken against and other culprits (Zaremba, 2010).

If Patten’s was the only case of fabrication, Nuance Group could have perhaps been forgiven for its impaired ethical case. Isolated cases as such cannot be fully ruled out in an organization. Still and all, the vice of biographical data misrepresentation seems to have spread

across most of the firm’s employees. Patten`s boss discovers this when the former`s case is brought forward. He realizes that more employees have added “self-congratulatory

embellishments” in their professional information just as Patten had claimed. The discovery exposes an obvious loophole in the internal controls at Nuance Group. Most organizations nowadays have internal departments charged with the responsibility of ratifying the professional documents provided by their employees. The existence of such a department would have surely prevented the unfolding and unwanted saga.

The crisis in Nuance Group threatens the existence of the management consultancy firm. The biographical data misrepresentation in the group’s website and the brochures distributed exposes the firm to criminal proceedings against it (Zaremba, 2010). This is as a result of providing information with the intention of deceiving members of the public. The firm could also be in trouble with relevant regulatory authorities for professional misconduct. The firm was supposed to ensure that its employees were professionally competent as claimed by the information which they provided. Such scenarios can permanently dent the image of the consultancy firm and perhaps lead to its downfall.

Recommendations

Expertise in crisis communication come in handy in situations such as the one Nuance Group is in. Zaremba (2010) defines crisis communication as a means of creating and sending out information to both internal and external stakeholders when an organization is in crisis. Crisis communication is a crucial component of crisis management. How the management of Nuance Group conducts their crisis communication will define the future of the firm. The process hence has to be plotted and executed accordingly as outlined below.

The management should start with stakeholder identification. A stakeholder is anyone

either internal or external who has an interest in the firm. In the case of Nuance Group, such stakeholders include Dorfman Associates. the online clientele who represent external stakeholders and the firm’s consultants themselves who make up the internal stakeholders. The management should then come up with the appropriate messages to send to the different stakeholders. The message should have the intended impact on each shareholder. The message must include apologies, especially to the external shareholders. Such heartfelt apologies can help in repairing the image. The management should then decide on how the drafted message will reach each stakeholder. The means of communication will definitely be dictated by the location of the target audience. The intended impact will also help in choosing the most suitable means of communication (Zaremba, 2010).

The management should start by communicating to the firm’s consultants. The crisis directly affects them and actions of some of them have led to the issue at hand. They should also get the message first as the crisis threatens their careers. An emergency meeting can be convened where the management can inform on the discovery. The culprits need to be admonished for putting the firm’s image at risk. Measures also taken should also be communicated. Some of these measures may include suspension of the affected consultants. Though this may be harsh, it is necessary so as to restore the confidence of other stakeholders and the credibility of the consultancy group (Zaremba, 2010).

The management next needs to communicate to Dorfman Associates. They need assurance that their concern has been received and is being acted upon. A decisive action such as suspension of Patten needs to be taken. Communication of the same should be relayed to

Dorfman Associates. The management has to ensure that communication with them is clear and

that they are contented with the corrective measures which have been adopted (Zaremba, 2010). This is because they are very much aware of the situation and if they don’t get satisfied, they might take further actions which may be detrimental to the firm. The management can communicate to them through the phone, just like they did. This will also be an effective means of communication in the sense that the message will be delivered in time. The feedback provided will also help to gauge if more action should be taken.

The third target audience should be the clients who visit the group`s website. A notice of the new developments should be uploaded to the Nuance Group website as soon as possible. A clear explanation of the situation should be made to avoid making the already bad situation worse. This is because unlike the Dorfman Associates who blew the whistle and the stakeholders, the online clientele to will be hearing of the new development for the first time. This calls for care to avoid unnecessary panic (Zaremba, 2010).

The above three audiences can reasonably be reached within the first 48 hours if not less. However, that does not mean that more corrective actions should not be undertaken. The above measures will effectively render the over 500 brochures issued worldwide misleading. Nuance Group hence should print new brochures with the correct biographical data of consultants and distribute them out to prospective clients. Perhaps a note to the effect that previously issued brochures are void should be inserted in the new ones. Such clarification can help prevent Nuance Group from future liabilities arising from the misleading brochures.

The management of Nuance Group can also employ other image restoration strategies. Zaremba (2010) proposes measures such as bolstering and employing corrective strategy. Bolstering in the case of Nuance Group could be in the form of management identifying the achievements made in remedying the crisis. Such can include highlighting the suspension of the

affected consultants. On corrective strategy, Zaremba (2010) says “organizations employ the restoration strategy called corrective action when they explain to stakeholders what they are doing or what they will do to ensure such a crisis never occurs again.” The management of Nuance group hence has the obligation of constantly assuring the stakeholders that no more misrepresentations will be made on consultants at the firm.

Conclusion

As illustrated in the case study above, crises are bound to hit contemporary organizations. Nuance Group’s image is threatened. This calls for all organizations to adopt relevant crisis communication strategies within their hierarchies. Lack of such mechanisms can effectively lead to the downfall of an organization. The situation facing Nuance Group is a matter of make or break for the firm. Lack of decisive response in terms of crisis communication can end the life of a global consultancy firm. Organizations do not have to be necessarily reactive in crisis communication. Proactive crisis communication strategies are better as an organization can hardly predict when a crisis will hit. As noted earlier, crisis communication helps organizations to tackle effectively any unfolding decisive situation.

References

1. Zaremba A.J. (2010). Organizational communication. Oxford University Press

“All That Glitters Is Not Gold”

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the narrator and protagonist Nick Carraway travels from his hometown in the Midwest to New York to learn about the bond business and

become a “well-rounded man” (4). By doing so, he begins his quest to discover the different sides of America through exposing himself to the height of opulence at the Eggs and the extent of corruption in the “valley of ashes” (23).

Having moved to West Egg next to Jay Gatsby’s grand mansion, Nick bears witness to the disparity between the arrogant “old” rich, as depicted by the Buchanans, and the superficial “new” rich, portrayed through the guests at Gatsby’s party (44-45). Nick’s residence at West Egg places him in the heart of the hustle and bustle between the socially elite. While many are “supercilious” (7) like Tom Buchanan, there are also corrupted individuals present in the valley of ashes, such as Myrtle Wilson and her adulterous relationship with Tom. Thus, Nick doesn’t only see the beauty in American society, he also looks beyond the facade of fame and riches to reveal the decay and debauchery underneath.

Even in his pursuit to uncover the mysteries of Gatsby’s identity, Nick realizes even more than appearances can be deceiving. Though Gatsby seemed to be a highly engaged socialite, he was also incredibly learned and soft-spoken, owning a library filled with real books rather than empty volumes (45) and surprising Nick with his humble appearance (48). Furthermore, Gatsby’s free pass from the authorities through his mysterious white card (68) only strengthened Nick’s impression that everything regarding Gatsby is a surprise and that “anything can happen

anything at all” (69). Just as the atmosphere of Gatsby’s party shifted into something “significant, elemental and profound” (47) as the highs of celebration transitioned into lows of conflict (51), Nick finds himself both attracted to and repulsed by city life. “I began to like New

York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye” (56), he says.

However, “at the enchanted metropolitan twilight [he] felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others” (56) as well. This push-and-pull momentum from the city’s allure and underlying perversion, as personified by the vivacious and “incurably dishonest” (58) Jordan Baker, is what drives Nick to continue searching for a true sense of what these complexities of society are really like. In this, he also attempts to find a place for himself within America — in all her glory, splendor, and decadence.

Leroy Brown (a.k.a. Encyclopedia Brown) is a smart fifth grade boy. He has more books than anyone in his hometown ofl daville. His dad is the chiefof police and secretly his son helps him with his cases. The newest case is about a jewel thief. He had recently got arrested stealing from Idavilles local jewelry store, but he had stolen jewels from all over the state. When he got arrested he told Chief Brown that he couldn’t remember where he had put all the other stolen jewels. So that night at supper time as Chief Brown was discussing his case with his wife, he told his son and wife about some letters they found and how they had a funny smell of onions on them. Encyclopedias brain was starting to work. The thief also told Chief Brown that he drank a cup of onion juice every day for his health.

Yuck! So, Encyclopedia examined the letters and realized that the thief was using the onion juice as invisible ink. Chief Brown then called all the towns that the thief had stolen from to let them know about the letters and where he had hidden their jewelry. Hooray! The Case of the Autographed Alice in Wonderland During the summer Encyclopedia Brown worked from his garage to help the kids in the neighborhood. A five-year-old girl named Melissa needed his help. She loved tea parties. She told Encyclopedia about how a kid named Bugs Meany wanted her to trade him one of her stuffed animals for a booked called Alice in Wonderland. He said she would like it because the book had a tea party in it. Melissa also told Encyclopedia that the book ended up being broken. Now Bugs Meany was a leader of a group of tough, bigger boys and they weren ‘ t very nice .

Encyclopedia and Melissa examined the book closer and notice that they ere pages tom out and it looked like there was some sort of fake looking autograph in it. They headed over the find Bugs, so Encyclopedia could get Melissa’s stuffed animal back. He tricked Bugs into writing the authors name so he could prove the autograph was fake. The signatures ended up looking exactly alike. Melissa got her stuffed animal back and Encyclopedia solved another case. The Case of the Lemonade Stand Sally was Encyclopedia Browns junior partner in the detective business. One day she ends of punching the school bully Bugs in the chin for trying to steal a kid’ s bike. After that happened they took off on their bikes to go to South Park to watch their friends Little League game.

It was a very hot day, so they decided to stop at Sonia’s Lemonade Stand. She was happy to tell her friends that she made three hundred dollars and the T.V. station did a news story on her. After they drank their lemonades they helped Sonia pack up her stand because her mom was calling for her to come home. The next day Encyclopedias phone rang. and it was Sonia. She was upset as she was telling him how she left the money inside the stand when they had packed it up. This was right down his alley because he always liked helping his friends and solving a case if there was one. He rode out on his bike to meet up with Sally, so they could help with getting Sonia’s money back. The two kids made their way into the lemonade stand and immediately they stepped into a trap.

Bugs comes out of nowhere and starts screaming for the police. A policeman shows up and Bugs starts telling him that Encyclopedia and Sally had stolen Sonia’s lemonade stand money, but the two kids knew they were being framed. Since Encyclopedia was such a good detective he could prove that he and Sally were innocent. Right behind them the money still sat on the shelves nice and neatly the way Sonia had put it the day before. Since they were in fact innocent the officer drove behind them while they rode their bikes to the bank, so they could deposit Sonia’ s money. Money saved, and another case solved!

The story takes place In the mid-18th century. Places and scenery change In a blink of an eye. Just like In a dream. so we don’t know very well where Alice is. For example, Alice walks through a door from inside a house to Its garden. when she passes through It again. she Is In the court of the queen… The main character is Alice She is a young girl with a tendency to talk to herself. She appears to be resourceful. She has a cat named Diana. She falls through a rabbit hole to wonderland. She is actually the only main character, mainly because all the other characters appear briefly. And there are plenty of those: The Cheshire cat. the duchess. the queen, the white rabbit and others.

The story begins on a bank of a river. where Alice sits near her sister and her cat. Dian. Suddenly she sees a white rabbit dressed in a coat. Alice lollows him into a rabbit hole. In the bottom she tries to get into a beautiful garden, She experiences many changes In size due to some beverages and foods. Eventually she shrinks and gets carried away With a stream of tears she cried earlier, On the shore. she goes to the rabbit‘s house to bring him his gloves and fan. In his house she grows to fill the house, The rabbit tries to remove her by inserting a lizard (Bill) through the chimney and Alice sends him rocketing away With a kick. She shrinks again and leaves the house. She goes to meet the caterpillar and he tells her that one end of his mushroom shrinks and the other grows.

She goes to the house of the duchess and meets a talking Cheshire cat and after a very odd conversation she goes to the mad hatter’s tea party. It’s a very strange party. Alter enjoying some tea. she continues her journey and somehow gets to the beginning again. Now she is able to enter the room with the caterpillars advice. it turns out to be the queen’s royal gardens. The queen and king arrive and soon Alice joins the queen‘s cricket game. After all the other players have been executed by the queen. she sends Alice with a Griffin to hear the story of the mock turtle. At some point the griffin takes Alice to the trial In the queen’s court, After some time. Alice starts to grow rapidly and the queen orders her EXECUIIDI’I.

The cards all charge her and she finds herself awakened on her sister’s knees. The subject of the story is the Journey of Alice. now It goes on and who she meets In the course of it. I think the theme of the story relates to that: at the end of the book (final paragraph). Alice’s elder sister dreams of the world Alice visited. and hopes that when Alice grows she Will retain the childhood memories and enthusiasm. So the theme is that one needs to stay young. in heart at least. I thought the book was great. Very funny and interesting. Because I don’t speak native English it‘s sometimes hard to get the point and understand lokes in books. In this book I managed to understand almost every thing quite clearly. mainly because the jokes were mostly based on non- sense. not cultural reference It met my expectations in belng a very cute book.

In order to be able to understand a complicated story as Alice‘s Adventures in Wonderland we should take into account some important things This script is an adaptation of the original book, so it is important to have it into account when we try to explain its meaning, The writer of this novel, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, best known by his pen name Lewis Carrol, was not just a writer but also mathematician and logician, so in his story he plays with logic, even though sometimes it looks like it has no logic at all, Through the years many people have tried to understand and explain the meaning of such a complex story, but there are different theories. Even though all the scenes we took are not consecutives they are all from Act One, and still are in a chronological order, although we skip certain scenes between them.

One In the original script, as in the original novel, firstly Alice appeared with his sister reading a book to her about history, because of what Alice complains for it has no pictures and says that in her own world all the books would be filled with pictures and nonsense After that her sister goes on reading and Alice begins to fell sleepy, Because of this we could, and many people has done it, interpret it as if Alice simply falls asleep and everything is a dream of her. Moreover, it is said that Lewis Carrol based his story in the real Alice’s dreams Also the fall into a rabbit-hole could be a metaphor of the scape into literature, as a pun of Carrol to the fall that we are experimenting through diving into the story.

Scene Four After being some Lime in Wonderland, Alice encounters a caterpillar who is smoking in a mushroom. He keeps repeating to her “Who are you?”, The most certain interpretation of this would be that Alice doesn‘t know who she is anymore, maybe because she loses herself in Wonderland, or maybe because she feels so in her daily life The real Alice was beginning puberty, so that could be a representation of how we feel somehow lost and do not know who we are or what are we going to do when we get to adolescence. Also this could be seen to in the size changes that she mentions, meaning the changes your body suffers too at that times, 3 Scene Six Some time after her talk with the caterpillar, she encounters a Cheshire cat, whom she had met before in the duchess‘ house in the fifth scene.

This cat is grinning all the time and annoying herr If we pay attention, the cat makes philosophical points that are true, but confuse Alice even more. She is just worried of the madness of the place and his inhabitants, but we could think: who is the real mad when you are the only one who thinks different? Also, as Jerry Maatta said in an article that I found really interesting: “Is it that everyone alive is mad being alive, or everyone dreaming him- or herself away is mad due to the escape from reality?”i 4. Scene Seven This scene could be considered one of the most famous and acclaimed ones within the whole story, In this scene there is a lot of humour and puns, but also riddles that has no explanation at all in the story. Also, the time plays an important role in this scene, as, again, it does in puberty.

The book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a picture of the social problems of the 1840s. In the note before Dickens starts the book he says, I have endeavored in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea. Dickens PG 1 (1843) Dickens story seems to be addressing a general problem to the rich of his time and may have tried to encourage people to think about their fellow man. The book is directed more to the society as a hole and encourages them to take a look at their own behavior. Even though Ebenezer Scrooge under went a personal change, the book gave me the feeling that Dickens felt the entire society would face serious consequences if changes were not made to the way they treated and viewed their fellow human beings.

The industrial revolution took severe advantage of the children and the poor people of Dickens time and even though it is not mentioned directly in the story, the results of it are clearly felt. There were very distinct categories people fell into; you were either very rich or very poor. The expectations of the employer were very strict. They worked long hours with little time off. When Scrooge asked Cratchit if he wanted the entire day of Christmas off, Scrooge was very agitated and told Crotchet, you don’t think me ill-used, when I pay a days wages for no work and a poor excuse for picking a mans pocked every twenty-fifth of December. Dickens pg.

Another way that the story indicated the general feeling the rich had for the poor is the way that the two gentlemen, who were collecting for the poor, worded their request. They told Scrooge At this festive season of the year, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute. Dickens PG 61 (1843) Scrooges reply are thee no prisons? And the Union workhouses? Are they still in operation? The treadmill and the Poor Laws are in vigor then? Dickens PG 61 (1843) He obviously considered these things to be adequate to take care of the poor. They talked about a slight provision for the poor; this gave the felling that Scrooge may not have been the only stingy person of the time.

Dickens PG 61 (1843) Since these laws were passed by the rich it may have been the general feel of the time. It seems that the rich people were not interested in actually helping the poor, but gave a little to sooth their own conscience for the way they took advantage of the poor the rest of the year. The book is directed more to the society as a hole and encourages them to take a look at the way they treated people and to think about how their fellow man was suffering.

The book is very dark and cold with langue and saying that may be difficult for us to relate too. The description of London in the 1840s is very harsh and dirty and shows a large disparity between the rich and the poor. The story also seems to give the impression that if you are poor you are automatically happy, with love, family and friends, and if you are rich you have given up those things in the pursuit of riches.

The movie A Christmas Carol made in 1999 has very similar themes, but seems to have changed the focus of the story. The industrial revolution is not as important in the movie as it was in the book. It is not something that most of us have experienced and we cannot relate to it. The movie gives far more importance to Scrooges individual cruelty and lack of concern for the people around him. The movie seem to be directed more at individual change and less a commentary on society as a hole. It speaks more to individual choices and consequences. Our modern society cannot relate to the restrictions an employer could place on his employees.

If we didnt get paid vacation, sick time, holidays, and a forty-hour workweek we would be screaming abuse. Here in America we pay our taxes to support many social programs to help people with limited incomes. Our taxes dont go to support workhouses or debtors prisons so we could feel superior to the rich people in the book. Even with these programs we still have homeless and poor people, but they are less visible and easier to ignore. In Dickens time the homeless were everywhere and you could not miss them. In America you have to go to the inner cities or extremely rural areas to find similar problems. What we also seem to forget, as Americans is the suffering that still occurs in the third world countries today. Many of these countries are undergoing a delayed industrial revolution and have similar problems that Dickens identified in his book.

Even though this version of a Christmas Carol did a better job of depicting London in the 1800 then any other version that I have seen, it still didnt capture how dirty, cold and desperate it was for the majority of the people. The movie also updates the language and gives us cultural trigger that we can relate too. The addition of a middle class, in the movie, gives us someone that our society can relate too. I feel it also is the reason for the shift in focus. Most of America is middle class and do not fit into the two classes identified in the book, and it would be easy to feel that the very rich of our time are the only ones who need to hear the message of this story.

By adding the middle class it allows the movie to focus more on individual change and gives the story more meaning to our modern society. The book gave equal value to each of the scenes that the ghost of Christmas past showed to Scrooge. His change of out look seems to be sudden. Each visitation had an impact but it was not until the final spirit that he makes a true change of heart. The movie puts more emphasis on Scrooges fianc then the book. The addition of a monologue by Scrooge in the scenes with his fianc made the relationship more important. It gives us a stronger since of regret, and a gradual change of heart. All of us have experienced lost love and his regret makes him more human and someone that we have more in common with.

Does the shift to more personal choices take anything away from the point of the story? The story lends its self well to either view and does not detract from overall theme of the story. We could look at our modern society and see things that are very similar to the exploitation of Dickens time. I think Scrooge could represent the corporate giants and CEOs that we have heard so much about in resent news. The CEOS that have bankrupted their companies and left the employees out in the cold are very similar to the way the industrial revolution took advantage of poor. Even though our personal choices are important and the movies depiction of this was very good, our society could benefit from a look at the way the system treats individuals.

If you compare the book and movie directly there are very few differences, but they give very different perspectives if you really look at the over all picture. The movie is probable easier for us to relate too, but if you really take the time analyze the book we can still find value in the story. They each share a version of the story that is relevant even in our modern society and could help us see more clearly, changes we need to make personally and in our view of the world we live in.

When a man’s actions or beliefs differ from those of his society, the individual often becomes shunned, estranged, or negatively criticized by his peers. When an individual acts adversely to the proper rules of society, he causes his society to dislike him in direct proportion to his unacceptable or disapproved behavior. In “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, the Mariner commits one sin of complete ignorance, which angers his fellow men. In contrast, Charles Dickens’s Ebenezer Scrooge purposely disregards the feelings and needs of others. His isolation is not only physical but also a mental state of mind. Both men, the Mariner and Scrooge, are disliked by society, thus leading to their isolation.

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” the values of society contribute to the alienation of the protagonists in each work.

Dickens’s, Ebenezer Scrooge, reveals the values of 18th century culture and society. The novel is set during the joyful time of Christmas. Unlike Scrooge, his contemporaries believe that an individual has some moral responsibility. Giving money to the poor is an important tradition during the holiday season. An unnamed character states, “At this festive season of the year Mr. Scrooge… it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provisions for the poor” (Charles Dickens 5). Giving of man’s recourses during the holidays is social norm.

Edgar Johnson states, “He feels that he has discharged his full duty to society in contributing his share of the taxes that pay for the prisons, the workhouses, the operation of the treadmill and the poorlaw and he bitterly resents having his pocket picked to keep even them going” (85).

Charity in the view of his world is in complete contrast with Scrooge’s greed. Money directs every decision Scrooge makes. He believes that Christmas is only a time to throw your money away. Scrooge tells his nephew Fred, Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What’s’ Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in’em through a round dozen months presented dead against you? If I could work my will… every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas,’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holy through his heart. He should! (Dickens 4)

He does not perceive how so many poor people are merry at Christmas. In Scrooge’s mind there is no valid reason for a celebratory mood because they have no money. Scrooge cannot understand that Christmas is not just gifts, but family gathering as well. The Bob Cratchit family has little but they are just happy being able to have a Christmas feast with family. The feast is small, but is plenty for the Cratchit family, who are happy in spite of their financial woes. In order for Scrooge to become a welcomed part of society he must understand and act on the values that his society holds.

Dickens characterizes Scrooge as “hard and sharp as a flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster” (2). He treats people poorly, and is isolated because of his disregard for the needs or the joys of people around him. In his community, he is feared and avoided at all cost. When members of his community see him they head the other direction. Dickens writes, “Even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, ‘no eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master” (2). No one stops Scrooge to ask him how he is doing; after all, Scrooge has avoided people in his community.

Communication between him and his fellow men is unpleasant or almost obsolete. People want to have as little to do with him as possible. He rarely leaves his counting house. Not one person has a nice word to say about him. Dickens writes, “Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost” (7). Any act of kindness toward Scrooge always ends with Scrooge yelling or insulting the person. By Scrooge warding off any thoughtful deed, people do not try to be kind.

Many fear the results of being kind to Scrooge. Scrooge is everything that society strives not to be. He is an example of what can happen to those who loose themselves. Harry Stone writes, “He allows us to see how self-interest an impulse that motivates each one of us can swell to monster proportion. He shows us how not to live” (50). Scrooge has been a teacher to many by keeping his selfish beliefs and walking a lonely path down the road of life.

Not only does Scrooge abuse the people in his community, but he also mistreats those that interact with him on a daily basis. Scrooge mistreats Bob Cratchit in many ways. He takes advantage of Cratchit because he is available and near him during the day. Cratchit has to have a job because if he does not he will have no income. Scrooge takes advantage of Cratchit’s current financial situation by paying him very little for long hours. Johnson states, “He under pays and bullies and terrifies his clerk” (85). He lets him off for the holiday but does not pay him for his time off and expects him to come in earlier the following day.

Scrooge thinks it is very problematic for him to take off work because he will lose a day’s work. Scrooge only thinks of how letting Cratchit off work will affect his money; he truly has no appreciation for Cratchit at all. Not only does he under pay him, but also does not provide a decent work environment. Scrooge is so greedy he only gives him one single coal for his fire, resulting in a very small fire. Scrooge enjoys a large, warm fir while he watches Cratchit suffer in a cold room. Cratchit cannot replace the coal, because Scrooge keeps the coal in his office. Bob Cratchit is so poor that he cannot afford a coat for himself so he brings his comforter to keep him warm.

Scrooge does not even treat him like a human; he thinks only of the clerk’s work affecting his business. The desire for gain of wealth and mistreatment of people has left Scrooge lonely and isolated. Society and family have rejected him because of his greed. Over a course of many years Scrooge has become more obsessed with money. He has had friends and even a fiancé, but he lost all of his companions because of his greed and obsession with riches. Bella is his fiancé. They are both in love at one point in time, but it is lost when Scrooge’s values become self- centered. Bella tells Scrooge, “Our contract is an old one. It was made when we were both poor” (Dickens 27). She loves the old Scrooge, the one that has little money. Wealth is not the reason she leaves him, but his love and dedication to wealth is the motive behind her leaving him. Bella feels that she has been set-aside in his quest for wealth.

Bella expresses her feelings, “Another idol has displaced me and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve” (Dickens 27). Bella senses she is of no use to him so she leaves him. Bella tells Scrooge, “All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, gain engrosses you. Have I not?” (Dickens 27). Their paths for their futures have taken them in two totally opposite directions. Money has become Scrooge’s closest and only friend.

Scrooge’s peers have isolated him because of his addiction to the love of money and lack of care for others. By not interacting with his community in benevolence he has isolated himself from his peers. Many times if one does not interact with his community, he is forgotten, or judged by those people who are being unworthy of their attentions. Peers will no longer concern themselves about that individual, and the individual will not be of any consideration to anyone after some time. Scrooge clearly creates a situation where no one cares about him. Craig Buckwald writes “A good life, is vitally an excursive one. Such a life requires, first that individual go beyond the containing limits of the merely self concerned self, to benevolent participation with one’s proper society” (80).

In order to be a part of society, he must begin to understand and accept the values that his society holds. He simply needs to leave his home and interact with his peers, but his selfish desire pull him into a state of isolation. Buckwald states, “Scrooge’s self-containment, of course is more than physical. His obsession with business and wealth not only occupies his time and energy but constitutes the frame of reference by which he judges everything and everyone in his world” (79). Everything in his world is viewed from his point of reference. Scrooge believes everything must be earned because nothing is given in life. His personal beliefs make it hard for him to accept charity. Elliot Gilbert writes, “For to the old man, such unsolicited generosity, requiring nothing in return, is an anomaly in a material universe where everything must be bought and paid for, and is thus a threat to the very order of his existence” (29). Scrooge’s world is one of his own thoughts and beliefs, and his disgust with goodness in giving, leads him down a lonely path.

Scrooge’s isolation becomes most evident through the visit of the Ghost of Christmas yet to Come. The ghost reveals to Scrooge what will happen to him if he continues to live the life he has been living. The ghost escorts Scrooge through London and they eventually arrive upon a group of people who are talking about his death. At that time he does not know to whom they are talking about. One man says, “It’s likely to be a cheap funeral, for upon my life I don’t know of anybody to go to it. Suppose we make up a party and volunteer?” (Dickens 52). All they know is that Scrooge is a man of wealth. People hear of his death and the first question they ask is what happened to his money, not caring that he is dead.

A man asks, “What has he done with his money?” (Dickens 51). His death is more beneficial than it is a sad event. Many stole things from his house and sold them. While the people are stealing he is lying in his bed, dead and not one person cares. They gain much through his death. A woman says, “He frightened everyone away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead!” (Dickens 56). Sadly, but understandably, his isolation while he is alive is also present when he is dead. Not one person is with him on his deathbed.

Everyone has left him while he is alive because of his rudeness and greedy. Dickens tells, ” He lay, in the dark empty house, with not a man, a woman, or a child, to say he was kind to me in this or that and for the memory of one kind word I will be kind to him” (57). His lifetime is not very different from his death because Scrooge is left isolated while he is alive. Audrey Jaffie states, “Scrooge’s death is a metaphor for his absence from representation; more powerfully, it is a metaphor for his absence from culture” (261). Scrooge will not be missed in his death, anymore than he is in life.

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the Mariner has alienated himself from his society. His actions cause his separation from his community. He, unlike Scrooge, has not led a life of total isolation, but he makes one mistake, which affects the rest of his life. As he and the other sailors are on a voyage, an albatross is flying around the boat. One morning the Mariner kills the albatross. He does not know the bird is a good omen to his fellow shipmates. The Mariner says, “Then all averred, I had killed the bird that brought the fog and mist” (Samuel Taylor Coleridge 93-6). After killing the bird, the ship’s good luck disappears. As a sign of his sin the shipmates place the dead albatross around the Mariner’s neck. He is isolated because of his impulsive act of killing the bird. The Mariner’s belief is not different from his society; it is his lack of awareness of his society’s beliefs. Unlike Scrooge the Mariner does not willingly choose isolation; he brings it upon himself. By killing the bird, the Mariner has to live the rest of his life in isolation.

Both the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and A Christmas Carol have characters who, through their actions and personal beliefs, have isolated themselves from their communities. Each of the stories also has the redemption of both the Mariner and Scrooge. The characters are given a second chance and are forgiven. Even though both are forgiven, the consequences of their actions differ. Scrooge and the Mariner have been given redemption through the use of supernatural elements. The three phantoms in A Christmas Carol have a dynamic effect upon Ebenezer Scrooge. The ghost reveals to Scrooge his fate if he counties to live the life he has been living.

The visit of the Ghost of Christmas yet to Come brings about a fear and a moral force in Scrooge’s attitude toward others. The Mariner receives redemption trough supernatural elements. The Mariner realizes the beauty of God’s creation and in result the albatross falls form his neck. He is now forgiven but is paying penance by traveling over and around the world telling the story of the albatross. While Scrooge has led an entire self-centered life, he attains complete atonement and becomes the caring individual he should have been. Both have achieved redemption, but only one must relive and tell his own tale for the rest of his life.

Dickens and Coleridge have portrayed two individuals who have been rejected by their peers. The values of their societies are in contrast of their own values. For the rest of his life, the Mariner is destined to travel around the world telling the story of his alienating acts. Scrooge has become a changed man and begins making repairs to his former decisions and the behaviors in life. He has reached his goal of a “born again” man who cares his fellow human beings. Both protagonists leave positive marks on the world in which they live.