Author: Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870)
Originally published: 1845
Page count: 91 (Av. of several versions: 110)
Dates read: 9/16/19-9/22/19
2019 book goal progress: 27 out of 41
Back to the Classics category:
Classic Novella (under 250 pages)
Read my other Dickens at Christmas reviews HERE.
Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.
Description on back of book:
John Peerybingle, a carrier, lives with his young wife Dot, their baby boy and their nanny Tilly Slowboy. A cricket constantly chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel to the family. One day a mysterious elderly stranger comes to visit and takes up lodging at Peerybingle's house for a few days.
First sentence:
"The kettle began it!"
Favorite quotes:
"To have a Cricket on the Hearth is the luckiest thing in all the world!"
"You're such an undeniable good sleeper, sir, that I have half a mind to ask you where the other six are - only that would be a joke, and I know I should spoil it. Very near though, very near!"
"Caleb was no sorcerer, but in the only magic art that still remains to us, the magic of devoted, deathless love."
CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 8 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters - 10
Atmosphere - 8
Writing Style - 9
Plot - 8
Intrigue - 9
Logic - 4
Enjoyment - 8
What is a CAWPILE Rating?
Review:
This is a great fairy-tale story. It's almost too good to be true - but aren't most Christmas stories? This story is included in Dickens' 5 Christmas books, but it actually happens at the end of January and doesn't involve Christmas at all. (Though there is a Scrooge-like character, as well as toymakers!) The book is really about love and marriage. It opens with this wonderful personification of the kettle which made me fall in love with the story. To be fair, there were some parts that did confuse me and other parts I think the story would have been better without - but it was a great read overall. Dickens is an amazing writer that writes prose like it's poetry - I laughed, I cried, and my heart was warmed.
Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Charles Dickens have the last words:
"All Crickets are potent Spirits, even though the people who hold converse with them do not know it (which is frequently the case); and there are not in the unseen world, voices more gentle and more true, that may be so implicitly relied on, or that are so certain to give none but tenderest counsel, as the Voices in which the Spirits of the Fireside and the Hearth address themselves to humankind."
But... WAIT! I have a question about the ending! The very last paragraph to be exact. I hope some of you reading this blog have read The Cricket on the Hearth for yourselves and will give me some insight on the ending.
Warning: the following contains spoilers (and the comments might have spoilers as well).
When I first read the last paragraph, I interpreted that the narrator as John and that the happy ending had all just been a vision from the cricket and that Dot had left him after all. But then I thought about how the Cricket was portrayed as a lucky and positive being and that kind of trickery just didn't seem to fit a Cricket's character. Then I thought maybe the narrator is Tilly and the last paragraph happened after everyone went to bed after the party and she was still sitting by the fire - this allows for the happy ending, but also doesn't really add anything to the story. It doesn't seem to fit.
Then I thought - what if the Cricket is the narrator? That also would allow for a happy ending and would give the story a deeper meaning than if it was Tilly. The problem was that either there's a second Cricket in the home or the Cricket speaks about itself in the third person - so maybe the Cricket isn't the narrator. Then I thought more abstract - what if the narrator is the hearth itself, which symbolizes the home, which symbolizes the love of those who live within? This would give the ending even more meaning. But... is that too abstract?
I think my main issue is the very last sentence: "A Cricket sings upon the Hearth; a broken child's toy lies upon the ground; and nothing else remains." I initially took this to be negative, but maybe it means 'Nothing else remains but luck (Cricket), love (Hearth), and the hard work of life/marriage (broken toy).' Or maybe it isn't as abstract as I'm making it and it means 'nothing else remains to be told,' or 'they all lived happily ever after,' or simply 'the end.' If any of these be the case, then maybe John is the narrator after all - but I kind of like the narrator being the heart/home/love.
Now that I've explained the confusion I have over the ending, I want to ask two questions: Who do you think the narrator is? How did you interpret the last paragraph?
"All Crickets are potent Spirits, even though the people who hold converse with them do not know it (which is frequently the case); and there are not in the unseen world, voices more gentle and more true, that may be so implicitly relied on, or that are so certain to give none but tenderest counsel, as the Voices in which the Spirits of the Fireside and the Hearth address themselves to humankind."
But... WAIT! I have a question about the ending! The very last paragraph to be exact. I hope some of you reading this blog have read The Cricket on the Hearth for yourselves and will give me some insight on the ending.
Warning: the following contains spoilers (and the comments might have spoilers as well).
When I first read the last paragraph, I interpreted that the narrator as John and that the happy ending had all just been a vision from the cricket and that Dot had left him after all. But then I thought about how the Cricket was portrayed as a lucky and positive being and that kind of trickery just didn't seem to fit a Cricket's character. Then I thought maybe the narrator is Tilly and the last paragraph happened after everyone went to bed after the party and she was still sitting by the fire - this allows for the happy ending, but also doesn't really add anything to the story. It doesn't seem to fit.
Then I thought - what if the Cricket is the narrator? That also would allow for a happy ending and would give the story a deeper meaning than if it was Tilly. The problem was that either there's a second Cricket in the home or the Cricket speaks about itself in the third person - so maybe the Cricket isn't the narrator. Then I thought more abstract - what if the narrator is the hearth itself, which symbolizes the home, which symbolizes the love of those who live within? This would give the ending even more meaning. But... is that too abstract?
I think my main issue is the very last sentence: "A Cricket sings upon the Hearth; a broken child's toy lies upon the ground; and nothing else remains." I initially took this to be negative, but maybe it means 'Nothing else remains but luck (Cricket), love (Hearth), and the hard work of life/marriage (broken toy).' Or maybe it isn't as abstract as I'm making it and it means 'nothing else remains to be told,' or 'they all lived happily ever after,' or simply 'the end.' If any of these be the case, then maybe John is the narrator after all - but I kind of like the narrator being the heart/home/love.
Now that I've explained the confusion I have over the ending, I want to ask two questions: Who do you think the narrator is? How did you interpret the last paragraph?
I found your blog post because I was searching for other people’s ideas about the exact same question: who is the narrator and what does the last paragraph mean?
ReplyDeleteIs the narrator Boxer? How else would we know what happened on the carrier’s last run? Who would wake by the Hearth to make this final comment?
As for the broken toy, earlier it had been mentioned that little boys use their toys up to find out how they work and eventually break them ready to move on to the next.
I re-read the opening and I think Boxer is ruled-out. He is also discussed in 3rd person. It must be a house-fairy and since each of the objects in the house have come alive during John’s “dream”, the Hearth is a great nomination for Who is the Narrator?
DeleteAlso, to clarify the broken toy, I think it is baby that broke it.