Santa Claus plays a big role in children’s lives around the holiday season. Families will go to the extreme to make their children believe in Santa, saying presents are from him and even leaving out cookies for him. However, there comes a time in life when the child needs to learn the truth. In Charles Webb’s “The Death of Santa Claus,” an eight year old is realizing Santa is just an imaginary character. It explains what metaphorically happens when a child discovers the truth, by featuring other fictional characters, such as Rudolph and Mrs. Claus. In “The Death of Santa Claus,” The speaker describes the death of Santa to reveal the loss of childhood innocence and belief. To begin with, the speaker starts off the poem with the events leading …show more content…
However, just like anybody with health issues, he is also scared to go to the hospital. “he’s let his Blue Cross lapse, / blood tests make him faint / hospital gown always flap open” (4-7). He is also clearly not very concerned about his health because he let his Blue Cross lapse, which is an insurance plan. In the next stanza, he goes on by saying how he believes his health problems are weight related. The pain he is feeling is also the way children feel when they learn their childhood dreams of Santa being real are crushed. This is also how Santa …show more content…
Children typically have large imaginations and are very vulnerable to believing anything, such as Santa. In the next stanza, He then uses imagery when he says “..and the beautiful white / world he loves goes black” (14-15). When a child imagines the North Pole, they probably picture a snowy wonderland. The speaker makes the reader think of Santa’s world going black. This black world represents the moment when the belief of Santa dies, Santa’s wonderland dies along with it. In the two next stanzas, the author begins to describe Santa’s “jelly belly.” This jelly belly of Santas is what he is most known for, and he makes the reader think of Santa’s big belly. He then starts to feature different characters, such as Mrs. Claus. The reason for doing so is because not only Santa dies in the child’s imagination, so does many other characters as well. He then talks about the elves, and Rudolph’s nose. He says “Rudolph’s nose blinks like a sad ambulance / light” (21-22). Rudolph’s nose is used here to represent an ambulance, which is the opposite of what Rudolph’s nose is typically used
Dr. Seuss's original fable is a simple story told with a great moral that criticizes the commercialization of Christmas. The original story features an “Ebenezer Scrooge” type creature that lives up the mountains outside "Whoville." The Grinch indulges himself in the annual ritual of spoiling everyone's festivities with a series of nasty pranks. This particular year however he plans to sabotage the holiday season by dressing as Santa Claus, clim...
In contrast to Dillard initial perception of God as wrathful she recognizes him now as loving by associating God to her kind neighbor and a cheery old man filled with joy. Dillard recalls, “For so many years now I have known that this Santa Claus was actually a rigged-up Miss White, who lived across the street, that I confuse the dramatis personae in my mind, making of Santa Claus, God, and Miss White an awesome, vulnerable trinity” (Dillard, 1982, p. 72). Dillard utilizes juxtaposition by comparing “awesome, vulnerable trinity” to Santa Claus, God, and Miss White. The trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit portray invincibility; yet in this sense Dillard depicts a “vulnerable trinity.” Dillard’s juxtaposition of the trinities demonstrates her comprehension of their differences and she acknowledges her mistake of initially confusing the two. Dillard implement Santa Claus in her narrative as a representation of God’s omnipotent presence. Dillard reminisces, “; Santa Claus stood in the doorway monstrous and bright, powerless, …” (Dillard, 1982, p. 71). Dillard juxtaposes “monstrous” and “powerless”. This example of juxtaposition conveys the alteration in her perception of God because as a child she perceives Santa and God as threatening, like a monster; yet as an adult she realizes they do not mean to harm
From the beginning of the movie with the birth of Rudolph and the discovery of his bright red nose, he was demeaned. Mrs. Donner states we will “simply have to overlook it”, and perhaps “he’ll outgrow it”, Santa sadly retorts “let’s
A Christmas Carol. Classics of Children's Literature. Ed. John W. Griffith and Charles H. Frey. 3rd ed.
Dickens' Use of Language and Structure to Build Up a Picture of the Joy of Christmas Present
From the first look into their child’s eyes, parents fall in love with the little life they have now welcomed into the world. Their child is the most pure and innocent creature they have laid eyes on, and from that day forward they strive to preserve it for as long as they can. As children grow, parents become more protective (especially with their first child). They spend countless dollars on safety gadgets to place around the house to ensure their child’s safety, and they tell them lies to make holidays more exciting. Does Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny ring a bell? These lies are meant to cause harm; they are simply told to children to prolong their innocence. As long as they believe in fictional characters such as Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, children will have magic in their world. Parents attempt to make that magic last for as long as possible because they know about all the horrible things that happen in the real world. Although parents know they cannot prolong their children’s innocence and purity forever, they try
It is hard to believe that there is anyone on the planet that hasn't heard of the story "A Christmas Carol". Although it isn't hard to believe that people do not realize that there are differences between movies and novels. In this case, that fits right into that subject. Here are some of the differences between the movie and the novel.
It’s December of 1801 and the whole town is decorating, dancing, singing, and laughing as they get ready for a near holiday: Christmas. All but one pessimistic, obdurate cripple of a man. His name is Ebenezer Scrooge, an undermined old male swathed in dark clothing. He is typically found strolling the streets on Victorian London with poor posture, eyes locked on the cracked sidewalk beneath the soles of his shoes. Slumping along, carolers cease to sing near him and nobody speaks when in his presence. Scrooge is a prejudging business man who hurries to be left alone and disregards cheer. He is obdurate and blind to the consequences of his actions. Sudden wealth brings a snobbiness when his business partner dies, and as a result, his one true love divorces him, sending him into a state of hatred and regret. With this evidence to back it up, Scrooge can be perceived as a negative, crippling man with little tolerance to change. However, things are bound to change with the visitation of the wraiths: the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, an inevitable change that be...
“Why,” you ask, “position yourself only to be disappointed upon realizing that all you hold as true is in fact false?” I will tell you that I grew up believing in Santa Claus—the jolly, old, fat man who annually descended the chimney with his endless sack of treasures. I will tell you that I still believe that Santa Claus exists, despite being told otherwise by both parent and peer. I will tell you not only that Santa Claus exists, but that he exists in you and your family and your friends and every person who gives a little extra in any way thinkable.
Knowing the “Santa” story can maintain a child’s innocence. Allowing them the fantasy of these stories will stimulate their imagination. Imagination is the center of any child’s soul. Maintaining the soul is hard, so in one instance lying about what’s real and what’s not is in the child’s hands allowing them the freedom of soul to take it, believe it, and run with it. Each child is different and can react to discovering the truth differently. One reaction may be losing trust in the parents or feeling betrayed, and the other may be the excitement to finally be “in the loop.”
In stanza one, the reader is inside with the boy looking out at the snowman who is “standing all alone,” (1) a comment that creates a lonely tone right from the beginning. The boy is very troubled as he thinks of what this snowman must endure out there in the vicious winter night – wind, darkness, “gnashings and massive moan,” (4) features obviously overstated in the mind of the boy who himself fears the night and the creepy sounds it produces. Seeing the “pale-faced” (6) snowman in the distance with its “bitumen” (6) or tar-black eyes makes the boy feel terrible, as if he were seeing the first human himself, Adam, after he’s been expelled from Eden. Wilbur’s use of this Biblical reference extends the universality of the poem’s theme and deepens the sense of loneliness in the tone and in the boy. Maybe Wilbur is suggesting this boy’s Sunday School lessons have filled him with some confused and frightened notions of God’s power and fondness to punish.
For instance the text states “Every man moves on...but there is no need to grieve. He leaves good things behind.” (MacLeod 305). This statement shows that although he stops believing in Santa Claus and moves on from his childhood years, his memories will always remain with him throughout his adulthood even though he knows that Santa Claus is fable. An example that supports this argument is when the narrator is describing his father's health, “He has “not been well” for over two years...he is most sympathetic of all concerning my extended hopes.” (MacLeod 302) .The main character realizes how ill his father is, he will have to soon replace his role as man of the house which requires him the move on from Santa Claus and become an adult. The last example supporting this argument is “The ones for my younger brothers say from Santa Claus but mine are not among them any more...It is as if I have suddenly moved into another room and heard the door click lastingly behind me.” (Alistair MacLeod 305) This shows that he is now an adult, the gift giving experience with Neil that Christmas. It shows his coming of age through his brother's gesture of letting his stay up at night to see the grownups in the family putting presents under the tree other that a jolly old man in a red
The poem “The Death of Santa Claus” by Charles Webb is about how sometimes the truth can hurt. By giving us a story on how Santa Claus dies and how the mom has to tell the kid the bad news that Santa Claus is not really real shows how most kids are hurt by the fact Santa Claus is not real. The first half of the poem gives us a story on how Santa Claus dies. Maybe the story on how Santa died his the kids imagination and feeling on when he found out that Santa Claus is not
Meeting the Ghost of Christmas Past begins the first stage of Scrooge’s transformation: regretting his actions. When Scrooge is shown his younger self alone in his classroom on Christmas, he regrets chasing a Christmas caroler away from his door. The Spirit skips ahead a few years to show him a happier time. His sweet little sister Fan arrives to take him home, and this is his first Christmas in a long time that is spent with family. Unfortunately, Scrooge doesn’t see it that way; seeing this scene makes him “uneasy in his mind” as he thinks about the way he treats his nephew Fred. Instead of treating him like his only family member, Scrooge denies invitations to Christmas dinner every year and is rude whenever Fred speaks to him. He doesn’t have time to dwell on this for long, however; Scrooge has many other important things to think...