Rekindling the true Xmas spirit through literary characters

Christmas is upon us, a season for reuniting with family members and sharing moments of joy. Ideally, the Christmas break offers an opportunity to reflect on the goodness of Jesus Christ to humanity, and to reach out to the needy among us. Unsurprisingly, the spirit of Christmas is deeply embedded in literature.

Beyond the familiar carols of “Jingle Bells” and “Joy to the World”, which are synonymous with the season, books too capture the subtle textures of the Christmas experience. Many Christmas stories explore the theme of redemption that lies at the heart of Christ’s mission on earth. They also engage with the realism of the season, offering poignant reflections on poverty and joy, often juxtaposed within festive settings. Through these narratives, profound human emotions and social transformations are vividly rendered.

Yet it is the moral goodness of characters in Christmas literature that ultimately defines these works. This raises an important question: is there a discernible “Jesus effect” in them? Like the iconic Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, do these characters meet the benchmark of genuine transformation? In many cases, they do. In The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, the newlyweds Jim and Della sacrifice their most prized possessions to express their love. Della sells her beautiful long hair to buy Jim a platinum chain for his gold watch, while Jim sells the watch to buy her a set of ornamental combs. In a poignant irony, their gifts become practically useless, yet their love is revealed as the true treasure. Like the biblical Magi, they emerge as the wisest of givers. The story quietly asks whether we, too, are willing to sacrifice earthly comforts for love, humility and kindness.

In a world marked by folly and moral inadequacy, can the Christmas conscience still be redeemed? Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot offers a sobering meditation on this question. Its protagonist, Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, is portrayed as a “positively beautiful man”, an epileptic aristocrat whose Christ-like innocence and compassion set him apart. As he moves through the cynical, materialistic society of 19th-century Russia, his purity collides with greed, desire and moral decay, with tragic consequences.

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Myshkin becomes entangled in a complex love triangle involving the troubled Nastasya Filippovna, the virtuous Aglaya Ivanovna, and the obsessive Rogozhin. Nastasya is torn between Rogozhin’s intense, possessive love and Myshkin’s selfless compassion.  She views herself as unworthy of Myshkin’s purity and repeatedly turns down his offers of marriage, often returning to Rogozhin. Eventually she relents and gets engaged to Myshkin, but on their wedding day, she runs away with Rogozhin for the proverbial one last time.

Myshkin later discovers that Rogozhin has murdered her in a jealous rage. Rogozhin is sentenced to hard labor in Siberia while Myshkin suffers a mental collapse, retreating into profound idiocy. The novel suggests that pure Christian goodness struggles to survive in a corrupt world.

Closer home, A Kenyan Christmas by Dr Muthoni Omukhango offers a gentler vision. It follows Amani, who travels from New York to Mombasa and reconnects with her extended family, rediscovering warmth and belonging.

As Christmas approaches, reflecting on Jim and Della, Myshkin, Amani reminds us that redeeming the “Jesus effect” begins with love and sacrifice.

The writer teaches English and Literature at ST Charles Lwanga, Thika. [email protected]

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