by Oscar, age 9, asks which ghost has chains in A Christmas Carol, about the River Cam, and Cambridge University
Dear Santa,
Alright Santa, from Cambridge. My name is Oscar and I am 9 years old. My class just finished reading A Christmas Carol together, and there is one part that genuinely gave several of my classmates a proper fright, the bit with the ghost dragging heavy chains behind him.
My first question is: which Christmas ghost has chains, and why?
My second question is geography: what river runs through Cambridge?
My third question is from school: why is Cambridge so famous for its university?
I left you a scone with clotted cream and jam, and a mug of hot chocolate.
Love, Oscar, age 9, Cambridge, England
From the Desk of Father Christmas
Dear Oscar, a scone with clotted cream and jam is a proper treat, thank you very much. Now, to that spooky ghost, and your other questions.
Which Christmas ghost has chains, and why?
That would be the ghost of Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge’s former business partner, who appears at the very start of A Christmas Carol dragging a long, heavy chain made of cashboxes, keys, padlocks, and ledgers. Marley explains that he forged that chain himself, link by link, during his greedy, uncaring life, and now he is doomed to carry its weight forever in the afterlife. He warns Scrooge that unless he changes his own selfish ways, an even longer, heavier chain awaits him too. It is a genuinely eerie image, and exactly the kind of warning that sets the whole story in motion.
What river runs through Cambridge?
The River Cam flows gently through Cambridge, famous for punting, where people push flat-bottomed boats along using a long pole, gliding past the historic university colleges lining its banks.
Why is Cambridge so famous for its university?
The University of Cambridge was founded in 1209, making it one of the oldest universities in the entire world, and it has produced an extraordinary number of scientists, writers, and thinkers over the centuries. That deep, continuous academic tradition is exactly why the city and the university feel so completely woven together.
Tell your classmates the fright was worth it, and I shall see you very soon.
Ho ho ho, Santa
