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I went ahead and grabbed my dickens' bio anyways...smiles...
unfortunately, its an "advance proof" and it doesn't have an index but I did find this passage:
"dickens's religious beliefs are often the subject of debate, partly because he ridiculed evangelicalism relentlessly in figures like dr chadband in bleak house and mrs clennam in little dorrit, but he was never backward in offering an alternative faith. for him the figure of jesus Christ was a constant image of salvation. love, kindness, forgiveness, benevolence, celebration, mercy, joy, charity, and innocence all had their source, for dickens, in Christ and Christmas." --p162.
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ack, double post. my dial-up internet connection and this website do not get along with each other.
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The Poor Traveler: http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/4391/
This brief book dealt with the Christmas themes of forgiveness and redemption. The chief character stands as an "everyman", a microcosm for all the world. That while there is life, there is hope. Despite the wars that existed among the nations, there is a common humanity among all ~ this as if the human race was one family.
{All} who were poor travelers, too, in their way, heard the Angels sing, 'On earth, peace: Good will toward men.'"
This was Dicken's social & religious vision of the world.