SOURCE: "Comic Viewpoints in Sketches by Boz, " in English, Vol. XII, No. 69, Autumn, 1958, pp. 132-35.

In the essay below, English scholar and critic Cox traces the humor in Sketches by Boz, finding that the characters depicted represent for Dickens "the comic situation of man in the universe. "

Butt Cites a Pivotal Point in Dickens's Writing Career:

I believe [A Christmas Carol] to be important in Dickens's development as a story-teller, since it is the first time he had attempted to direct his fertile imagination within the limits of a carefully constructed and premeditated plot. There is indeed no external evidence, in the shape of letters or draft sketch, to show what were his initial intentions. But the book as it stands bears the marks of constructive care at the outset. The opening picture of the unregenerate Scrooge, surly towards his clerk and his nephew, is balanced by the...