Family and moral values: based on the novel “Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens and modern views on the importance of the family текст проектной работы

Introduction.

I have read a novel “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens [Picture 1]. It was just on the Eve of Christmas and it made a great impression on me. It shows the transformation of a greedy, angry man into a generous, good-natured one. The author touches upon very urgent problems. There are philosophical questions and many people try to answer them. What helps us to be happy? What is the role of the family in our life? Where the roots of our happiness? What is the meaning of our life? The book made me to think pf all these questions.

I think that the problems of upbringing in the family is closely connected with the meaning of life and happiness. Russian philosopher S.L. Frank wrote: “The question of meaning of life disturbs everybody. This question is not theoretical one. This question is the question of life itself” [2].

This question is actual for teenagers beginning their life. Modern world has many temptations. In Europe, they speak about gay-marriages, gay-families with children. More and more young people think about civil union without officially registering a marriage. Who will help us understand what is wrong and choose the necessary one? To my mind, our nearest can do it – our parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters. Family is one of the most important institution in helping us. I have made my mind to clear up some points. It is interesting to know what scientists, psychologist, sociologists, think about it. It is necessary to know in which way family influences child’s future, how the relationships in the family have been changing during the centuries.

Problem:

• The necessity of a family in the modern world.

Aim:

• To clear out the role of the family in the upbringing of children and significance of the family for their future.

Tasks:

• To analyze the influence of the family on the main character of the book “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
• To study the models of upbringing in a family.
• To analyze the attitude of modern teenagers to a family and philosophical concepts “happiness”, “the meaning of life”.
• To find out the role of a family in the modern world.

Hypothesis:

• Family is still one of the most important social institution and it must be kept.

Information:

• The book “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
• The works of Russian and English psychologists and sociologists.
• Internet sources

Main body.

Chapter I. The family and moral values in the novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens.

People thinking about future forget their present and past. They live as if they will never die but before death, they suddenly realise that they have not lived as they are not happy and not all their life has meaning.

Fortunately, the main character Ebenezer Scrooge could realise it much earlier. He is described as “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner” [3], even his surname means “cranky, selfish miser”. He is interested only in money, even at Christmas, he hates people singing carols, men helping poor and he is even angry with his nephew. He is not able to enjoy Christmas because it is just an ordinary day for him. He has money but not happiness.

But at Christmas night Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his dead partner who wants to warn him. He warns that he will be visited by three ghosts. They will take him on a journey through Past, Present and Future.

The Ghost of the Past takes Scrooge to his child hood. We see a boy, sitting alone at the desk, reading a book. Even on a Christmas Day, he is left at school, because his father does not want to see him at home. His father is a strict person especially to his son, so he expects absolute obedience from him. Disobedience is considered as an act against God as well as the head of the house. The boy is alone and unloved in an empty room. He is alone and forgotten. It becomes clear why Scrooge will become so covetous.

Scrooge gets older and believes in hard work and money. He does not want to marry because “all his other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of sordid reproach … his nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master – passion, Gain, engrosses him” [3]. He is sure that money will make him happy.

The Ghost of the Present shows him joy and happiness in the town. Scrooge sees many families and the are happy to be together, to give presents to their children. Even through they do not have enough money for a Christmas goose, they love each other and enjoy having Christmas. But Scrooge is again alone and forgotten. In the upshot, tears appear in Scrooge’s face.

The Ghost of the Future shows Scrooge that he will die miserable and alone. There is no man who is mourned the death of Scrooge.

Everybody expresses only joy and relief at his death. Moreover, all his belonging are stolen and sold to other people. He sees nobody who is sorry for him. He is frightened and it is vivid to him that nobody can buy respect even for money.

After that night Scrooge changes greatly because he is realizes that common welfare, charity, mercy, forbearance and benevolence are his business, his meaning of life! The rich should appreciate the poor; the poor must not be forgotten. Family is the most significant place in the Universe.

Charles Dickens revealed this problem from the point of view if the 19th century. The model of upbringing in the family was dictation. Father was always repressing and demanding. Disobedience was considered as an act against God. That is why Scrooge was mistrustful and hated all people and lost natural sense of adventure and curiosity. Nevertheless, Ghosts helped him to change his life. He felt happy in his nephew’s family. His nearest loved him and respected. Scrooge began to help poor people, helped Tiny Tim to recover from a serious illness. His kind acts made him happy. He warned people and they warned him.

To describe the main point of Scrooge’s transformation in a kind man we can use a quote be Elbert Einstein: “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life then he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives” [6].

Chapter 2. The model of upbringing.

We see that Scrooge is happy in his nephew’s family. His clerk and his nephew have friendly families and they bring up children in the atmosphere of love. Since the family been existing, it plays the significant part in upbringing of children and it is one of its main functions. Upbringing of children has a great importance for personality formation. It is different from person to person, as it based on surroundings and own upbringing as well. Psychologists define a few models of upbringing.

Non-interference model of upbringing. According to this model, the parents leave a child to his own resources [1]. As a result, the child becomes shy, impersonal to his parents, suspicious, selfish. Besides, he has no consideration for other people. Moreover, it leads to juvenile delinquency.

Dictation is the next model of upbringing. Parents suppress the child and demand a lot [1]. As a result, a child becomes resistant, distrustful, irresolute and repressed. These children are afraid of punishment for their mistakes so it males the children unmotivated and indolent. In addition, they lose the sense of curiosity.

Tutelage is the following model. This model consider parents to be caring, protecting their children from facing the challenges and giving them everything they want [1]. All in all, the child becomes selfish, insolent and immature. In addition, the child is unable to overcome difficulties and make a decision. Some children when they become teenagers have emotional expression that results in problems with peers and in relationships with family.

The fourth model is cooperation. Parents, following this model, are reasonable, tolerant and approving. Parents and children have mutual interests, purpose and activities. They support any child’s initiative [1]. The child becomes independent, confident, kind, unselfish and hard working. In addition, the child gets along with others easily.

To sum up, we can say that upbringing actually help children have various character traits, which are rooted in their childhood. It goes without saying that Ebenezer Scrooge had a dictation model of upbringing in his family. It is not astonishing why Scrooge became so resistant and repressed.

Scientists define a family as a small social group and it is one of the most importance institutions, One of its main functions is to bring up children and help them be sociable. That is why cooperation is the best model because its foundation is “we”. Children became confident, unselfish, creative and sociable.

In this way, family is one of the factors of socialization. It helps children to be sociable. Theses children will be active citizens of the country. They can do a lot to help others. If you are needed and respected, you are happy and it is closely connected with the understanding of the meaning of life and happiness [6].

British psychologist Professor Argyle contributed a lot to the psychology of happiness. He published “The Psychology of Happiness” in 1987, 2nd edition in 2001. According to him, you should have one close relationship and some close friends. You should do a lot of contact with other people. Other people make you happy, not money [4]!

Chapter 3. Family and moral values nowadays.

Having read all the information about family I decided to clear up my classmates’ attitude to a family and to philosophical concepts “happiness” and “the meaning of life”.

The teenagers were asked seven questions about relationships with their parents, attitude to family, happiness, career and money. We obtained the following results.

What relationship do you have with your parents? [Diagram 1]

Most teenagers consider that they have mutual interests and common purposes with their parents and the parents treat them with love, support and kindness. According to the survey, we can say the 81% of families have the cooperation model of upbringing. Unfortunately, some children are brought up by the dictation model that is not the best way of upbringing. This model leads children to be unmotivated, lazy and afraid of parents because of their faults (8%).

However, we can see that the members of the Russian families closely communicate with each other and the family is always ready to help their relatives in difficult time.

To whom do you apply for if you are in a difficult situation? [Diagram 2]

This question shows that teenagers trust their families and they find the support there (69%).

It proves that family is the most essential institutions in our society and it plays a great role in the lives of teenagers and helps to overcome difficulties.

What is the better marriage: official or civil union? [Diagram 3]

72% of respondents answer that they prefer official marriage because partners trust each other, this type of marriage is more reliable and it is evidence of seriousness of their relationship. Moreover, modern teenagers want to have their own families and trustworthy partners.

Unfortunately, civil unions are gaining popularity because 16% of children have chosen this answer.

What id more valuable for you: family or career? [Diagram 4]

For the most teenagers, the family is the most precious place in the world (60%). Even those who choose career as the most important want to have it to support their families (32%).

Do you agree with the statement “Money helps to make family happiness”? [Diagram 5}

Teenagers are sure that we cannot buy happiness for money. Money cannot make us happy (44%).

Do you agree with the statement “The more money a man has, the happier he is?” [Diagram 6]

28% of respondents say that money is needed for support the happy family. But money and happiness are no synonyms (67%).

What is the happiness for you? [Chart 1]

The first place is given to family and love (60%). They are followed by health (48%), friendship (32%) and well-paid job (32%).

Family is still the most valuable thing for children and it is above money and career. The meaning of the family in Russia is important. The tradition that everybody should have their own home and protect their family are brought up in Russia since early childhood.

To sum up, we can highlight some point from the survey:

• The family is still the most valuable thing for children
• The official marriage is more popular as it is reliable and serious
• The well-paid job is needed to support the families
• Money cannot make us happy

Conclusion

The world is constantly changing and everything around is changing too. But while working on the project I have come to conclusion that some values remain. Family has been existing for centuries. People aspire to living in the society where there is a reliable family, mutual understanding, readiness to help, where people are appreciated according to their value not to their money. Mankind has always striven for it. Unfortunately, it is not easy to achieve.

I have analysed the work by C.Dickens and can conclude that the role of a family is great. It can spoil the child’s life or help in his future. Even in the 19th century writers tried to attract attention to the problem of a family and moral values.

I have learnt interesting facts about the models of upbringing. Upbringing influences all your future life and it can cause some problems in future or on the contracy can help to achieve a success. That is why parents should be careful while choosing a model of upbringing. They should bear in mind that cooperation can help their children be valuable, successful and as a result happy.

I have compared some works of philosophers, psychologists, sociologists. All of them are sure that relatives and true friends make you happy not money. Be generous, helpful, hardworking, and sympathetic so it will bring you happiness in return.

I have asked my peers about the concepts of family, happiness, meaning of life. The survey shows that my classmates take these problems seriously. Fortunately, the majority of them are brought up in the atmosphere of cooperation. I hope it will be useful in their future life. They consider that happiness includes, first of all, having a family, love, health, career. The conclusion is that the institution of a family needs to be preserved and taken care of.

I think that our government makes the right laws to support young families. There is a program to support construction of housing for young couples. Young families re provided with favorable loans for housing. They receive support for children.

(Gaidar Forum, 14/01/2015), Russia’s economic development minister, Alexei Ulukaev, appealed for Russians to remain calm. “Barrels and sanctions will pass. In a crisis situation, the main thing is to preserve mental calm … and most of all to think about the health of your family and your own health,” – he said [5].

Bibliography

1. Bogoljubov L. N., Obshhestvoznanie, 10 klass – 5th edition – Moskva: Prosveshhenie, 2011
2. Frank S. L., Smysl zhizni. Brussels: Zhizn’ s Bogom, 1976
3. Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol – unabridged edition – Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 1991.
4. Michael Argyle, The Psychology of Happiness – 2nd edition – Saint Petersburg: Piter, 2003.
5. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-2909505/Russian-minister-promises-limit-government-spending.html
6. http://www.wisdomportal.com/PoetryAnthology/AlbertEistein-Anthology.httml