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The Cricket on the Hearth
Dickens gave his first formal expression to his Christmas thoughts in his series of small books, the first of which was the famous "Christmas Carol." There followed four others: "The Chimes," "The Cricket on the Hearth," "The Battle of Life," and "The Haunted Man." The five are known today as the "Christmas Books." Of them all the "Carol" is the best known and loved, and "The Cricket on the Hearth," although third in the series, is perhaps next in popularity, and is especially familiar to Americans through Joseph Jefferson's characterisation of Caleb Plummer.
The title creature is a sort of barometer of life at the home of John Peerybingle and his much younger wife Dot. When things go well, the cricket on the hearth chirps; it is silent when there is sorrow. Tackleton, a jealous old man, poisons John's mind about Dot, but the cricket through its supernatural powers restores John's confidence and all ends happily.
The title creature is a sort of barometer of life at the home of John Peerybingle and his much younger wife Dot. When things go well, the cricket on the hearth chirps; it is silent when there is sorrow. Tackleton, a jealous old man, poisons John's mind about Dot, but the cricket through its supernatural powers restores John's confidence and all ends happily.
82 pages, Paperback
First published December 20, 1845
About the author
Charles Dickens
14.2k books29.4k followersCharles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
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March 2, 2023
"The kettle began it! Don’t tell me what Mrs. Peerybingle said. I know better. Mrs. Peerybingle may leave it on record to the end of time that she couldn’t say which of them began it; but, I say the kettle did. I ought to know, I hope! The kettle began it, full five minutes by the little waxy-faced Dutch clock in the corner, before the Cricket uttered a chirp."
So begins The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home, and straightaway we can tell that this will be a light-hearted piece. Who else could start a novella with such aggrieved indignation by ... well we never really do learn who the narrator is. But right at the start we find ourselves in the middle of an argument between a kettle and a cricket, and it is hilarious—a real joy to read. Dickens loves to give inanimate objects life. He frequently turns a house or a chair into a quirky character with its own presence. Here is Dickens writing to his friend and mentor John Forster, of how he envisaged this charming story,
"... a delicate and beautiful fancy for a Christmas book, making the cricket a little household god—silent in the wrong and sorrow of the tale, and loud again when all went well and happy"
And this is what begins to unfold before our eyes. A dialogue between a simple kettle and a magical cricket threads all through the story; household fairies, goblins and sprites abound, all centring around an old-fashioned hearth with an open fire, belonging to a bygone age but epitomising home, domesticity and comfort. We have wonderfully drawn characters, a mystery to solve—and we certainly do have "wrong and sorrow". The whole elaborate confection is imbued with a fairytale quality.
John and Dot "beaming, useful, busy little Dot—" Peerybingle, now there's a name to instil some joyful Christmas cheer. We quickly learn however that their marriage is threatened by a wide difference in their ages. This is a favourite theme of Dickens, an older husband and younger wife; the older man seeming to be a bit of a plodder and the younger wife being more vivacious and having a bit more more spirit. But who is this mysterious stranger who arrives? Here begins the element of mystery which Dickens always conjures up so well. Are there hints that Dot recognises this unexpected visitor?
Before long we are introduced to the Ogre of the piece: a hard-hearted toymaker called Tackleton. Or "pretty generally known as Gruff and Tackleton—for that was the firm, though Gruff had been bought out long ago; only leaving his name, and as some said his nature ..."
But wait, how can a toymaker be an Ogre? Read this and all will become clear,
"Tackleton the Toy-merchant, was a man whose vocation had been quite misunderstood by his Parents and Guardians ... cramped and chafing in the peaceable pursuit of toymaking, he was a domestic Ogre, who had been living on children all his life, and was their implacable enemy. He despised all toys ... delighted, in his malice, to insinuate grim expressions into the faces of brown-paper farmers who drove pigs to market ... movable old ladies who darned stockings or carved pies; and other like samples of his stock in trade. In appalling masks; hideous, hairy, red-eyed Jacks in Boxes; Vampire Kites; demoniacal Tumblers who wouldn’t lie down, and were perpetually flying forward, to stare infants out of countenance; his soul perfectly revelled."
What an inspiration for a villain: someone who delighted in creating toys with horrible faces, and expressions which would terrify their young owners! Of course he also happens to have a none too attractive appearance and manner, and to top it off is about to marry a young innocent girl.
As well as the merry Peerybingles and gruff old Tackleton, we have hilarious cameos in the shape of the family dog, Boxer, and Tilly Slowboy, Mrs. Peerybingle's nursemaid. Tilly Slowboy is certainly "slow"; a great clumsy oaf of a girl, who seems to inadvertently use the baby as a battering ram at every opportunity,
"Miss Slowboy, in her little errors of judgment, may be said to have done equal honour to her head and to her heart ... though these did less honour to the baby’s head, which they were the occasional means of bringing into contact with deal doors, dressers, stair-rails, bed-posts, and other foreign substances ... she had a rare and surprising talent for getting this baby into difficulties: and had several times imperilled its short life, in a quiet way peculiarly her own."
There are many instances of Tilly Slowboy's antics as the text moves on, making for a very lively read. Tilly may be hitting the baby's head on something or losing "it" (the baby is always described as an object) under the grate. You may well find yourself laughing laughing out loud.
We then move on to a centre section; the "Second Chirp". Here is another household comprising old Caleb Plummer, a poor dollmaker working for Tackleton, and his blind daughter Bertha. This part is significantly full of pathos, and if it feels at all over-sentimental, it is worth remembering that Victorians believed such disabilities as blindness were inherited. Dickens's portrayal of the yearning feelings of Bertha, is thus a deliberate way of building yet more tension in the story, because it was not very socially acceptable for the blind to marry. By now we have several relationships which appear to have complications and problems beneath the surface. There are at least two deceptions. One seems well-meaning, appealing to our emotions despite our trepidation, but the other could indicate treachery. That one is shrouded in doubt and uncertainty.
As the story proceeds, , and so he consults the spirit of the Cricket on the Hearth. Earlier in the novel Dot had said she liked the the chirping of the cricket, as it would bring luck. The cricket is revealed centre stage,
"The Cricket on the Hearth came out into the room, and stood in Fairy shape before him"
and a Voice tells John that all will be well. In in the end all the worry which John and others had is proved to be a misunderstanding. Everything falls nicely into place, and the couple are once more blissfully happy, and their friends join them. Happiness abounds, and there is even a surprise moral conversion of one character, on the lines of Ebenezer Scrooge's in "A Christmas Carol".
Towards the conclusion, everything is sweetness and light, dancing, gaiety and good humour. The ending of the story has a wistful dream-like quality, as the scene winds down, and the story slowly refocuses,
"Hark! how the Cricket joins the music with its Chirp, Chirp, Chirp; and how the kettle hums!"
As the narrator watches, his bright vision "... vanished into air, and I am left alone. A Cricket sings upon the Hearth; a broken child’s-toy lies upon the ground; and nothing else remains."
The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home is the third of Charles Dickens's five "Christmas Books". Unlike Dickens's novels, which were all initially published in serial form, the Christmas Books were all first published as books, a year apart. This one was first published as a novella on 20th December 1845. The first three Christmas books were the centrepiece of Dickens's public reading tours in the 1850s and 60s. Seventeen stage productions opened during the first Christmas season alone. One production actually opened on the same day as the book's release. For many years The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home was more popular on stage than "A Christmas Carol"! Victorian readers found its depiction of a happy home very attractive; this was a Victorian ideal. Nowadays however, a domestic setting focusing on the concerns of the home can seem banal, and this novella is sadly sometimes considered sentimental.
In his first Christmas book "A Christmas Carol", Dickens had divided into his novella into chapters called "Staves"; in the second, "The Chimes" he named them "Quarters". Here, in The Cricket on the Hearth he whimsically calls them "Chirps". In fact "whimsical" is a word which springs to mind to describe the whole content of this book. Although these first three were all phenomenally popular at the time, only the supremely optimistic "A Christmas Carol" has kept its reputation as a perfect Christmas story. "The Chimes" in many ways was a very topical story, directly about the social problems of the 1840s. Although we can easily relate to its broad message, it now seems less relevant, and some specific references are often missed. Overall now readers often consider it too depressing and downbeat.
With The Cricket on the Hearth Dickens has returned to a more lighthearted tone. The bitter sardonic voice of the author has gone, along with the harsh descriptions, and we are back to a scenario which Dickens himself describes as "quiet and domestic ... innocent and pretty." The public loved it, and it quickly went through two editions. William Makepeace Thackeray said,
"To us, it appears it is a good Christmas book, illuminated with extra gas, crammed with extra bonbons, French plums and sweetness ... This story is no more a real story than Peerybingle is a real name!"
And here we have the crux of the matter. Do not expect the satirical side of Dickens here, nor the hectoring lambast he tended to indulge in, especially in the early novels. This is all sweetness and light; the tongue-in-cheek voice of the Dickens who loved his magical sprites, his house fairies, his pretty females and his quaint, comfortable domesticity, his laugh-out-loud cameos, and his happy endings. It is as the subtitle suggests, "A Fairy Tale of Home," and although it is quite sentimental for modern tastes, if you approach it in the right spirit you may enjoy it immensely.
The original illustrations were unusually by several different artists: Daniel Maclise, John Leech, Richard Doyle, Clarkson Stanfield and Edwin Henry Landseer. The frontispiece, a lovely engraving by Daniel Maclise, features many of the goblins and fairies that Dickens seemed to love to include for atmosphere and that bit of elusive and inexplicable "magic" — especially around Christmas.
The version reviewed here is from 1912, when Pears' Ltd., published Centenary Editions of the first five Christmas books by Dickens, and also commissioned new artists. The illustrations are not caricatures. They are naturalistic monochrome watercolours by L. Rossi, but they are also very fine.
So begins The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home, and straightaway we can tell that this will be a light-hearted piece. Who else could start a novella with such aggrieved indignation by ... well we never really do learn who the narrator is. But right at the start we find ourselves in the middle of an argument between a kettle and a cricket, and it is hilarious—a real joy to read. Dickens loves to give inanimate objects life. He frequently turns a house or a chair into a quirky character with its own presence. Here is Dickens writing to his friend and mentor John Forster, of how he envisaged this charming story,
"... a delicate and beautiful fancy for a Christmas book, making the cricket a little household god—silent in the wrong and sorrow of the tale, and loud again when all went well and happy"
And this is what begins to unfold before our eyes. A dialogue between a simple kettle and a magical cricket threads all through the story; household fairies, goblins and sprites abound, all centring around an old-fashioned hearth with an open fire, belonging to a bygone age but epitomising home, domesticity and comfort. We have wonderfully drawn characters, a mystery to solve—and we certainly do have "wrong and sorrow". The whole elaborate confection is imbued with a fairytale quality.
John and Dot "beaming, useful, busy little Dot—" Peerybingle, now there's a name to instil some joyful Christmas cheer. We quickly learn however that their marriage is threatened by a wide difference in their ages. This is a favourite theme of Dickens, an older husband and younger wife; the older man seeming to be a bit of a plodder and the younger wife being more vivacious and having a bit more more spirit. But who is this mysterious stranger who arrives? Here begins the element of mystery which Dickens always conjures up so well. Are there hints that Dot recognises this unexpected visitor?
Before long we are introduced to the Ogre of the piece: a hard-hearted toymaker called Tackleton. Or "pretty generally known as Gruff and Tackleton—for that was the firm, though Gruff had been bought out long ago; only leaving his name, and as some said his nature ..."
But wait, how can a toymaker be an Ogre? Read this and all will become clear,
"Tackleton the Toy-merchant, was a man whose vocation had been quite misunderstood by his Parents and Guardians ... cramped and chafing in the peaceable pursuit of toymaking, he was a domestic Ogre, who had been living on children all his life, and was their implacable enemy. He despised all toys ... delighted, in his malice, to insinuate grim expressions into the faces of brown-paper farmers who drove pigs to market ... movable old ladies who darned stockings or carved pies; and other like samples of his stock in trade. In appalling masks; hideous, hairy, red-eyed Jacks in Boxes; Vampire Kites; demoniacal Tumblers who wouldn’t lie down, and were perpetually flying forward, to stare infants out of countenance; his soul perfectly revelled."
What an inspiration for a villain: someone who delighted in creating toys with horrible faces, and expressions which would terrify their young owners! Of course he also happens to have a none too attractive appearance and manner, and to top it off is about to marry a young innocent girl.
As well as the merry Peerybingles and gruff old Tackleton, we have hilarious cameos in the shape of the family dog, Boxer, and Tilly Slowboy, Mrs. Peerybingle's nursemaid. Tilly Slowboy is certainly "slow"; a great clumsy oaf of a girl, who seems to inadvertently use the baby as a battering ram at every opportunity,
"Miss Slowboy, in her little errors of judgment, may be said to have done equal honour to her head and to her heart ... though these did less honour to the baby’s head, which they were the occasional means of bringing into contact with deal doors, dressers, stair-rails, bed-posts, and other foreign substances ... she had a rare and surprising talent for getting this baby into difficulties: and had several times imperilled its short life, in a quiet way peculiarly her own."
There are many instances of Tilly Slowboy's antics as the text moves on, making for a very lively read. Tilly may be hitting the baby's head on something or losing "it" (the baby is always described as an object) under the grate. You may well find yourself laughing laughing out loud.
We then move on to a centre section; the "Second Chirp". Here is another household comprising old Caleb Plummer, a poor dollmaker working for Tackleton, and his blind daughter Bertha. This part is significantly full of pathos, and if it feels at all over-sentimental, it is worth remembering that Victorians believed such disabilities as blindness were inherited. Dickens's portrayal of the yearning feelings of Bertha, is thus a deliberate way of building yet more tension in the story, because it was not very socially acceptable for the blind to marry. By now we have several relationships which appear to have complications and problems beneath the surface. There are at least two deceptions. One seems well-meaning, appealing to our emotions despite our trepidation, but the other could indicate treachery. That one is shrouded in doubt and uncertainty.
As the story proceeds, , and so he consults the spirit of the Cricket on the Hearth. Earlier in the novel Dot had said she liked the the chirping of the cricket, as it would bring luck. The cricket is revealed centre stage,
"The Cricket on the Hearth came out into the room, and stood in Fairy shape before him"
and a Voice tells John that all will be well. In in the end all the worry which John and others had is proved to be a misunderstanding. Everything falls nicely into place, and the couple are once more blissfully happy, and their friends join them. Happiness abounds, and there is even a surprise moral conversion of one character, on the lines of Ebenezer Scrooge's in "A Christmas Carol".
Towards the conclusion, everything is sweetness and light, dancing, gaiety and good humour. The ending of the story has a wistful dream-like quality, as the scene winds down, and the story slowly refocuses,
"Hark! how the Cricket joins the music with its Chirp, Chirp, Chirp; and how the kettle hums!"
As the narrator watches, his bright vision "... vanished into air, and I am left alone. A Cricket sings upon the Hearth; a broken child’s-toy lies upon the ground; and nothing else remains."
The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home is the third of Charles Dickens's five "Christmas Books". Unlike Dickens's novels, which were all initially published in serial form, the Christmas Books were all first published as books, a year apart. This one was first published as a novella on 20th December 1845. The first three Christmas books were the centrepiece of Dickens's public reading tours in the 1850s and 60s. Seventeen stage productions opened during the first Christmas season alone. One production actually opened on the same day as the book's release. For many years The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home was more popular on stage than "A Christmas Carol"! Victorian readers found its depiction of a happy home very attractive; this was a Victorian ideal. Nowadays however, a domestic setting focusing on the concerns of the home can seem banal, and this novella is sadly sometimes considered sentimental.
In his first Christmas book "A Christmas Carol", Dickens had divided into his novella into chapters called "Staves"; in the second, "The Chimes" he named them "Quarters". Here, in The Cricket on the Hearth he whimsically calls them "Chirps". In fact "whimsical" is a word which springs to mind to describe the whole content of this book. Although these first three were all phenomenally popular at the time, only the supremely optimistic "A Christmas Carol" has kept its reputation as a perfect Christmas story. "The Chimes" in many ways was a very topical story, directly about the social problems of the 1840s. Although we can easily relate to its broad message, it now seems less relevant, and some specific references are often missed. Overall now readers often consider it too depressing and downbeat.
With The Cricket on the Hearth Dickens has returned to a more lighthearted tone. The bitter sardonic voice of the author has gone, along with the harsh descriptions, and we are back to a scenario which Dickens himself describes as "quiet and domestic ... innocent and pretty." The public loved it, and it quickly went through two editions. William Makepeace Thackeray said,
"To us, it appears it is a good Christmas book, illuminated with extra gas, crammed with extra bonbons, French plums and sweetness ... This story is no more a real story than Peerybingle is a real name!"
And here we have the crux of the matter. Do not expect the satirical side of Dickens here, nor the hectoring lambast he tended to indulge in, especially in the early novels. This is all sweetness and light; the tongue-in-cheek voice of the Dickens who loved his magical sprites, his house fairies, his pretty females and his quaint, comfortable domesticity, his laugh-out-loud cameos, and his happy endings. It is as the subtitle suggests, "A Fairy Tale of Home," and although it is quite sentimental for modern tastes, if you approach it in the right spirit you may enjoy it immensely.
The original illustrations were unusually by several different artists: Daniel Maclise, John Leech, Richard Doyle, Clarkson Stanfield and Edwin Henry Landseer. The frontispiece, a lovely engraving by Daniel Maclise, features many of the goblins and fairies that Dickens seemed to love to include for atmosphere and that bit of elusive and inexplicable "magic" — especially around Christmas.
The version reviewed here is from 1912, when Pears' Ltd., published Centenary Editions of the first five Christmas books by Dickens, and also commissioned new artists. The illustrations are not caricatures. They are naturalistic monochrome watercolours by L. Rossi, but they are also very fine.
December 25, 2019
Merry Christmas!
Everyone in our time knows about Charles Dickens’ magnificent A Christmas Carol, but he actually produced five Christmas themed stories in the 1840s, A Christmas Carol being the first.
The Cricket on the Hearth, the third in this series, is less otherworldly than its more famous predecessor, but has magical realism elements with the Cricket as a guardian spirit and references to spirits and faeries. Charmingly domestic, this tells a simple story of love lost and found again as only the inimitable Mr. Dickens can. Loyal readers of his prose will also enjoy many other ubiquitous qualities of his writing such as complex characters (and wickedly appropriate names) social observation and comment and the long lost traveller surreptitiously come home.
This one may not be as timeless as other of his stories, its charm is just as good. A recurring theme is class distinction and this may make this one relevant for our time as well.
Delightful.
Everyone in our time knows about Charles Dickens’ magnificent A Christmas Carol, but he actually produced five Christmas themed stories in the 1840s, A Christmas Carol being the first.
The Cricket on the Hearth, the third in this series, is less otherworldly than its more famous predecessor, but has magical realism elements with the Cricket as a guardian spirit and references to spirits and faeries. Charmingly domestic, this tells a simple story of love lost and found again as only the inimitable Mr. Dickens can. Loyal readers of his prose will also enjoy many other ubiquitous qualities of his writing such as complex characters (and wickedly appropriate names) social observation and comment and the long lost traveller surreptitiously come home.
This one may not be as timeless as other of his stories, its charm is just as good. A recurring theme is class distinction and this may make this one relevant for our time as well.
Delightful.
October 30, 2024
"If you had known the virtue of the ring
Or half her worthiness who gave the ring
Or your own honour to contain the ring
You would not then have parted with the ring."
Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, Act 5 Scene 1.
And the ring, of course, is a lifelong commitment to love! But the course of True Love ne'er did run smooth...
GUESS WHAT? I was able to find the FREE LibriVox audiobook!
Fill your stockings with its goodies...
https://youtu.be/6DcFqdhEOCg
Now, the story is that Old John - green in the ways of the world - is turned all of a sudden topsy-turvy when his best pal Caleb's boss, a worldly miser, wants to get cozy with John and his faithful young wife, Dot.
Why in tarnation should a rich, smart man befriend a poor taciturn lowly messenger through Victorian London, in the courier trade, living in a rundown shack?
What John doesn't know is that for Tackleton the Miser, blood runs thicker than water! And therein hangs a tale...
And if you can figure that one out, you're halfway to knowing Dickens' delightful denouement of this Christmas fable.
Oh, and another thing - Portia's speech, quoted above, gives most of the rest away!
This story is BRILLIANT.
And the ebook costs peanuts.
FIVE WARMLY GLOWING YULETIDE STARS!!!!!🤗
Or half her worthiness who gave the ring
Or your own honour to contain the ring
You would not then have parted with the ring."
Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, Act 5 Scene 1.
And the ring, of course, is a lifelong commitment to love! But the course of True Love ne'er did run smooth...
GUESS WHAT? I was able to find the FREE LibriVox audiobook!
Fill your stockings with its goodies...
https://youtu.be/6DcFqdhEOCg
Now, the story is that Old John - green in the ways of the world - is turned all of a sudden topsy-turvy when his best pal Caleb's boss, a worldly miser, wants to get cozy with John and his faithful young wife, Dot.
Why in tarnation should a rich, smart man befriend a poor taciturn lowly messenger through Victorian London, in the courier trade, living in a rundown shack?
What John doesn't know is that for Tackleton the Miser, blood runs thicker than water! And therein hangs a tale...
And if you can figure that one out, you're halfway to knowing Dickens' delightful denouement of this Christmas fable.
Oh, and another thing - Portia's speech, quoted above, gives most of the rest away!
This story is BRILLIANT.
And the ebook costs peanuts.
FIVE WARMLY GLOWING YULETIDE STARS!!!!!🤗
December 18, 2022
Dickens ha escrito un poema en prosa sobre la vida del hogar ,la humildad y el amor conyugal.
Un hermoso esbozo de la vida de las personas sencillas.
Un hermoso esbozo de la vida de las personas sencillas.
Read
December 7, 2017I attempted to read A Cricket on the Hearth for a holiday challenge in the group Reading for Pleasure. It is probably just the wrong time of year for me because I have enjoyed the other Dickens stories I have read. This is precisely why I read A Christmas Carol in October so that I could view it with an open mind. That being said, I did find out the origins of Jiminy Cricket, which I found to be touching. As with his other stories, Dickens writes social commentary about ills befalling the lower classes of London during the time in which he lived. I was especially moved by the relationship between Berta, a blind girl, and her father who are her eyes and link to the world. Yet, in the end, because this is a story written for a holiday which I do not observe, I could not read it to completion during the month of December. Perhaps I will try again next summer when there are no holidays and I can read the second half of this classic book with an open mind.
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January 1, 2020
It may seem ironic that in 1845—the year the Irish potato failed, the Andover workhouse scandal began, and Friedrich Engel’s The Condition of the Working Class in England was first published—Charles Dickens decided to forgo the social criticism evident in his first two Christmas books, A Christmas Carol and The Chimes , and to concentrate on a sentimental tale of the English family instead. Perhaps Dickens was responding to criticism that The Chimes was too radical; perhaps he merely wished to develop a few narrative fragments left over from his abortive periodical The Cricket, intended to be a tribute to the English hearth and home. Whatever the reason, Cricket was popular, and profitable, though the critical reception was mixed.
It is certainly sentimental. The middle-aged John Peerybingle, due to a set of deceptive circumstances (the sort common to sitcoms and romcoms), fears that his devoted young wife "Dot"—mother of his infant son—has been unfaithful to him. He is wrong of course (this is a Dickens’ Christmas entertainment, after all!), and—once confidence has been restored and tearful faces dried—the Peerybingle abode is once again what it had been: a humble, happy English home. There is the usual wealth of characters with memorable names: the loyal but reckless nanny Tilly Slowboy; the miserly old toymaker Tackleton, old Caleb Plummer who carves Tackleton’s “noah’s arks” and his blind daughter Bertha who sews the “unseeing eyes" on the faces of Tackleton’s dolls. Watching over the Peerybingle household is the Cricket, the lares and penates of the English hearth, chirping his joyous and protective song.
I enjoyed The Cricket on the Hearth, both because of and in spite of its sentimentality, but—trigger warning!—it contains passages so frolicsome, so candied, that they may be dangerous to the health of diabetic readers, particularly if they are sensitive to style. For example, take the following excerpt, where "Dot" Peerybingle’s wifely virtues are enthusiastically exemplified by the pains she takes to clean and fill her husband’s pipe:
She was, out and out, the very best filler of a pipe, I should say, in the four quarters of the globe. To see her put that chubby little finger in the bowl, and then blow down the pipe to clear the tube, and, when she had done so, affect to think that there was really something in the tube, and blow a dozen times, and hold it to her eye like a telescope, with a most provoking twist in her capital little face, as she looked down it, was quite a brilliant thing. As to the tobacco, she was perfect mistress of the subject; and her lighting of the pipe, with a wisp of paper, when the Carrier had it in his mouth — going so very near his nose, and yet not scorching it — was Art, high Art.It would be unfair, however, to close with this glimpse of Dickens at his worst, Dickens so close to self-parody. Instead, consider this reflective statement made by old John Perrybingle the Carrier, who blames himself for whatever temptation his young wife Dot may have faced while married to him:
And the Cricket and the kettle, turning up again, acknowledged it! The bright fire, blazing up again, acknowledged it! The little Mower on the clock, in his unheeded work, acknowledged it! The Carrier, in his smoothing forehead and expanding face, acknowledged it, the readiest of all.
‘Did I consider,’ said the Carrier, ‘that I took her — at her age, and with her beauty — from her young companions, and the many scenes of which she was the ornament; in which she was the brightest little star that ever shone, to shut her up from day to day in my dull house, and keep my tedious company? Did I consider how little suited I was to her sprightly humour, and how wearisome a plodding man like me must be, to one of her quick spirit? Did I consider that it was no merit in me, or claim in me, that I loved her, when everybody must, who knew her? Never. I took advantage of her hopeful nature and her cheerful disposition; and I married her. I wish I never had! For her sake; not for mine!’Ah! There's a glimpse of a Dickens’ character at his best, touched by the self-knowledge and compassion that comes after great travail, the kind of insight that, through their difficult journeys, Copperfield, Carton, Pip and even old Dombey came face to face with at the last!
December 28, 2022
La sombra de Scrooge es muy alargada y la comparación inevitable, en contra del grillo … en breve, subo la reseña
January 1, 2023
"The Cricket on the Hearth" is a warm holiday tale with a lucky chirping cricket, a singing kettle, and a delightful cuckoo clock which are brought to life, especially in the opening pages. The story revolves around John Peerybingle and his much younger wife, Dot. John brings home a mysterious older man who takes a room as a lodger.
A mean toymaker, old Tackleton, wants to marry May, a young woman - but she still has feelings for a sailor who was lost at sea. Caleb Plummer and his blind daughter, Bertha, live in poverty in a "little cracked nutshell" of a house and work for the miserly Tackleton.
There are misunderstandings between some of the characters which threaten their relationships. Blindness is a theme since Bertha is literally blind and has been told little lies to make her surroundings seem more cheerful, but other lies hurt her sense of reality in understanding people. Other characters are emotionally blind, but their eyes are opened in a sweet ending.
"The Cricket on the Hearth" was published as a Christmas book in 1845. This popular sentimental novella was also performed as a play. It depicts a loving, happy home with the presence of a lucky cricket on the hearth adding to the fairy tale ending.
A mean toymaker, old Tackleton, wants to marry May, a young woman - but she still has feelings for a sailor who was lost at sea. Caleb Plummer and his blind daughter, Bertha, live in poverty in a "little cracked nutshell" of a house and work for the miserly Tackleton.
There are misunderstandings between some of the characters which threaten their relationships. Blindness is a theme since Bertha is literally blind and has been told little lies to make her surroundings seem more cheerful, but other lies hurt her sense of reality in understanding people. Other characters are emotionally blind, but their eyes are opened in a sweet ending.
"The Cricket on the Hearth" was published as a Christmas book in 1845. This popular sentimental novella was also performed as a play. It depicts a loving, happy home with the presence of a lucky cricket on the hearth adding to the fairy tale ending.
August 16, 2020
The Cricket on the Hearth is one of the five Christmas stories by Charles Dickens. I have read this along with A Christmas Carol and The Chimes in a collection two years ago. Surprisingly except Christmas Carol, I've quite forgotten the other two stories; so it was a pleasant reading experience recalling the forgotten story.
This is a domestic tale that flows around two families - the Peerybingles and Plummers, and the wealthy but stern and cold toy merchant Mr. Takleton (resembling Scrooge of A Christmas Carol ). Through the story, Dickens paints a true picture of simple domestic lives of the people of lower-middle class. Their happy contentment and wealth in their domestic love is a strong contrast to the lonely unhappy life of the rich authoritative merchant. Dickens believes in domestic happiness and contentment as the ultimate wealth in life as so often displayed in his works.
The story is an interesting short fiction with love, jealousy, suspicion and deceit all playing a role. Dickens's light, humorous and witty wordplay combines all these themes in to one touching tale with a happy ending.
I really enjoyed the idea of the cricket being a fairy acting as the guardian angel of the Peerybingle family. This was a proof that I have still not outgrown fairy tales!
Overall, it was a good, engaging and enjoyable novella.
This is a domestic tale that flows around two families - the Peerybingles and Plummers, and the wealthy but stern and cold toy merchant Mr. Takleton (resembling Scrooge of A Christmas Carol ). Through the story, Dickens paints a true picture of simple domestic lives of the people of lower-middle class. Their happy contentment and wealth in their domestic love is a strong contrast to the lonely unhappy life of the rich authoritative merchant. Dickens believes in domestic happiness and contentment as the ultimate wealth in life as so often displayed in his works.
The story is an interesting short fiction with love, jealousy, suspicion and deceit all playing a role. Dickens's light, humorous and witty wordplay combines all these themes in to one touching tale with a happy ending.
I really enjoyed the idea of the cricket being a fairy acting as the guardian angel of the Peerybingle family. This was a proof that I have still not outgrown fairy tales!
Overall, it was a good, engaging and enjoyable novella.
December 22, 2022
I really enjoyed this story. It is included in a Dickens’ Christmas book collection that I own, but really I’d be hard pressed to call it a Christmas story. It is a book about love and family and being kind to one’s fellow man- important elements of the Christmas season, of course. A lovely, heartwarming story!
Published: Dec 20, 1845.
Our wedding anniversary is on Dec 20, so it was an auspicious day to start this one.
Thanks Petra from the Dickensian group, who is providing excellent background info to this read.
Published: Dec 20, 1845.
Our wedding anniversary is on Dec 20, so it was an auspicious day to start this one.
Thanks Petra from the Dickensian group, who is providing excellent background info to this read.
October 6, 2018
I love this one - a really nice and heartwarming read.
December 31, 2016
I love Charles Dickens all year round, but I really adore reading him at Christmas time. I had never read this novella before, and it lived up to my expectations of what a Dickens tale should be. It is billed as a Christmas story, but I don't see it as that at all. It is a story of home and love and the value of those over money.
I might not ever listen to the chirp of a cricket quite the same.
Happy New Year to everyone here at Goodreads and around the world. I wish you all a happy home, filled with love, kindness and peace.
I might not ever listen to the chirp of a cricket quite the same.
Happy New Year to everyone here at Goodreads and around the world. I wish you all a happy home, filled with love, kindness and peace.
December 4, 2018
Our book club read this as a quick December read. Our other recent books had been pretty stiff reading. This was a delightful departure. Yes, Dickens knows Christmas!
January 30, 2014
There I was this month, thinking I had temporarily lost my drive for commenting on books read. Until I dug up Dickens--well, it was more like I added him to my phone and listened: eyes closed, breath even, mind a blank slate waiting to be consumed by the sound of words paired carefully. There goes my spare time, Dickens, I give it to you sparingly. Do what you will with it.
And he told me a story. A simple, perhaps even dull, storyline of no intricate consequence and still, I was fascinated. For only a few can tell a story quite like Dickens (now I must read and re-read his works in the months to come).
The personification of cuckoos and crickets. A carrier, a toy merchant, and a blind woman. Love and suspicions of a lover. Loving deception--if one can imagine such a thing.
The kettle hums. The cricket chirps. The storytelling mastery begins.
Put aside the nagging reminder that your protagonist is oldddd and that his love is quite a youngun. Or the annoying reference to the "pathetic" daughter or the nagging wife. Oy, those minor annoyances become trivial once you get narration like this:
It all started with the cricket on the hearth.
Get upset at a character only to learn that he is in fact being mocked by the narrator: "A twist in his dry face and a screw in his body."
A compelling narration indeed. This oddly placed, entertaining "voice" that moves the story along. The depth of character introspection that is missing from so many contemporary short novels and stories. And did I mention again, how simple the story really is, this realistic fairy tale which showcases the human condition?
And he told me a story. A simple, perhaps even dull, storyline of no intricate consequence and still, I was fascinated. For only a few can tell a story quite like Dickens (now I must read and re-read his works in the months to come).
The personification of cuckoos and crickets. A carrier, a toy merchant, and a blind woman. Love and suspicions of a lover. Loving deception--if one can imagine such a thing.
The kettle hums. The cricket chirps. The storytelling mastery begins.
Put aside the nagging reminder that your protagonist is oldddd and that his love is quite a youngun. Or the annoying reference to the "pathetic" daughter or the nagging wife. Oy, those minor annoyances become trivial once you get narration like this:
Did I mention that he had always one eye open and one eye nearly shut and that the one eye nearly shut was always the expressive eye?
It all started with the cricket on the hearth.
Get upset at a character only to learn that he is in fact being mocked by the narrator: "A twist in his dry face and a screw in his body."
A compelling narration indeed. This oddly placed, entertaining "voice" that moves the story along. The depth of character introspection that is missing from so many contemporary short novels and stories. And did I mention again, how simple the story really is, this realistic fairy tale which showcases the human condition?
January 19, 2023
A sweet story. I am finding less and less time to write reviews. Hopefully soon. I read this with the Dickensians group which really enhanced my reading and enjoyment.
October 31, 2019
Although I've noticed people dislike this novella for its sentimentality I actually found it quite dark and sad. There were some stunning metaphors in there though and all is well in the end. It isn't as festive as A Christmas Carol but a good read for the winter.
November 9, 2018
Catching up with the classics
January 18, 2023
The kettle began it! Don’t tell me what Mrs. Peerybingle said. I know better. Mrs. Peerybingle may leave it on record to the end of time that she couldn’t say which of them began it; but I say the kettle did. I ought to know, I hope? The kettle began it, full five minutes by the little waxy-faced Dutch clock in the corner, before the Cricket uttered a chirp.
This is one of the three Christmas novellas written by Charles Dickens that were so popular with his readers. A Christmas Carol (1843), The Chimes (1844) and The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) captivated Victorians with stories of love, redemption, forgiveness, kindness and family. The Cricket on the Hearth is a heartwarming story of two families - the Peerybingles and the Plummers. John and Dot Peerybingle are about to celebrate their one year wedding anniversary. They have a baby and a young, clumsy but lovable nanny named Tilly Slowboy. Kind-hearted Caleb and his daughter Bertha Plummer are friends of the Peerybingles. Caleb is a toymaker and Bertha is blind. Caleb’s boss is the unpleasant Tackleton who happens to dislike children.
Dickens has written a story filled with mysteries, secrets, and fantasy. In the first scene, we see the kettle coming to life as well as the cricket chirping on the hearth of the fireplace hooking the reader with his lively descriptions and feelings of cheer. The cricket serves as the guardian of the Peerybingle’s house. He merrily chirps when all is happy and well. But when a mysterious stranger arrives the atmosphere takes a change and Dickens sends his readers on a journey of restoration that will delight.
Dickens packs so much into this big-hearted tale with characters to love and events to smile about. There is a magical feel to this story and a whimsy that makes it special. Readers experience love, jealousy, heartbreak, self-doubt, sorrow, generosity, happiness and renewal.
This was a lovely read with the Dickensians group and Petra a wonderful discussion leader.
This is one of the three Christmas novellas written by Charles Dickens that were so popular with his readers. A Christmas Carol (1843), The Chimes (1844) and The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) captivated Victorians with stories of love, redemption, forgiveness, kindness and family. The Cricket on the Hearth is a heartwarming story of two families - the Peerybingles and the Plummers. John and Dot Peerybingle are about to celebrate their one year wedding anniversary. They have a baby and a young, clumsy but lovable nanny named Tilly Slowboy. Kind-hearted Caleb and his daughter Bertha Plummer are friends of the Peerybingles. Caleb is a toymaker and Bertha is blind. Caleb’s boss is the unpleasant Tackleton who happens to dislike children.
Dickens has written a story filled with mysteries, secrets, and fantasy. In the first scene, we see the kettle coming to life as well as the cricket chirping on the hearth of the fireplace hooking the reader with his lively descriptions and feelings of cheer. The cricket serves as the guardian of the Peerybingle’s house. He merrily chirps when all is happy and well. But when a mysterious stranger arrives the atmosphere takes a change and Dickens sends his readers on a journey of restoration that will delight.
Dickens packs so much into this big-hearted tale with characters to love and events to smile about. There is a magical feel to this story and a whimsy that makes it special. Readers experience love, jealousy, heartbreak, self-doubt, sorrow, generosity, happiness and renewal.
This was a lovely read with the Dickensians group and Petra a wonderful discussion leader.
January 1, 2022
The Cricket on the Hearth is a heaping load of sentimental Victorian bullshit, featuring a contrived and unlikely plot, a gaggle of one-dimensional side characters, and gender norms that would be disturbing if they weren’t too antiquated to be worth the effort. And yet—and yet, five stars. I can’t help myself. All is forgiven, because this story has magic, real magic, the kind that can’t be faked, the kind that makes you laugh out loud with delight. Its real stars are not precious Dot or saintly John or silly Miss Slowboy or Bertha the Blind Girl; not the delightfully wicked Gruff and Tackleton (that’s one person, Gruff and Tackleton), or even the sonorous titular Cricket, although I love them all in spite of myself—no, the real heroes are the kettle and the clock and the damp and the dog and, of course, the very many toys and dolls and the Beasts on their way into Noah’s Ark. Dickens' moral is simple (it’s Harry Potter’s moral too, incidentally)—love is the most powerful magic. Easy enough to say, but it’s another thing altogether to make it real on the page.
December 26, 2019
If you like trite plots, maudlin scenes, corny symbols, and superficial characters, this story is for you. There is good Dickens and there is bad Dickens, and I can’t say this was good Dickens. What’s surprising is that in its day I have read The Cricket on the Hearth was more popular than A Christmas Carol. That is hard to believe, so perhaps my reaction is isolated to me. I gave it two stars instead of less because the theme of family love and bonds is nothing to snark at. Perhaps you will like it.
October 11, 2022
I really love Dickens; this book confirms it. I don’t know why I don’t read more from him, I totally will next year.
The actual story takes until half the book to start, but all the descriptions and character moments before that are already brilliant. Once the plot starts, hell really breaks lose. This story is so emotional and dramatic while never becoming unconvincing. Also, there is so much humor, some bits actually made me laugh out loud.
The actual story takes until half the book to start, but all the descriptions and character moments before that are already brilliant. Once the plot starts, hell really breaks lose. This story is so emotional and dramatic while never becoming unconvincing. Also, there is so much humor, some bits actually made me laugh out loud.
December 19, 2013
The Goodreads description for this book reads like an 8th grader heard about the book via a game of Telephone and then had to write a book report on it:
I'm tempted to go through sentence by sentence to grade this travesty of an assignment, but I shall restrain myself. There's just too much wrong there, from bad grammar and punctuation to random statements that have nothing to do with the book, to just 100% incorrect info.
At one point the cricket warns the master that his wife may be having an affair? A girl may regain her sight?
Telephone really is the only explanation for this level of wrong.
Tackleton tells Mr. Peerybingle that his wife is being unfaithful, not the cricket. And Bertha's eyes are her father, who describes the world to her. It's just ridiculously bad. Shamefully bad.
But I digress. I actually enjoyed this little story, despite it being read by Jim Dale (hatehatehate) and not being about Christmas at all. I'm guessing that it's a "Christmas story" because it was originally released a few days before Christmas... or maybe based on the Gregorian calendar? The story takes place in January, and has nothing at all Christmasy about it. The celebrations are because of a wedding, and an anniversary, and a new baby... not Christmas. Oh, but maybe the cricket/fairy/angel...? Ehh, it's a stretch.
Grinch, Grinch, Grinch! Scrooge, Scrooge, Scrooge. That's me. FYI.
So, anyway, taking away the non-Christmasness, and the Jim Daleness (hatehatehate), otherwise I thought it was good. Took a little while to get going, but after the twelve minute kettle/cricket serenade, things dropped into the story of Victorian homelife, with a little fantastical twist of having a cricket/fairy/angel in it. Though, honestly, that whole aspect could have been removed, because the conflict was resolved separately.
Umm, so, I guess what I'm saying is that you should only read this while drunk. It'll make perfect sense then.
"Dickens was a Victorian novelist and social campaigner. This novella published in 1845 is a Christmas story. Instead of chapters this book is divided into Chirps. The story revolves around a family with a cricket in the house. The cricket is their guardian angel. At one point the cricket warns the master that his wife may be having an affair. Even though this seems to be a tragic occurrence all is well in the end. Love prevails and a girl may regain her sight. This is a Christmas tale after all."I'm amused by this.
I'm tempted to go through sentence by sentence to grade this travesty of an assignment, but I shall restrain myself. There's just too much wrong there, from bad grammar and punctuation to random statements that have nothing to do with the book, to just 100% incorrect info.
At one point the cricket warns the master that his wife may be having an affair? A girl may regain her sight?
Telephone really is the only explanation for this level of wrong.
Tackleton tells Mr. Peerybingle that his wife is being unfaithful, not the cricket. And Bertha's eyes are her father, who describes the world to her. It's just ridiculously bad. Shamefully bad.
But I digress. I actually enjoyed this little story, despite it being read by Jim Dale (hatehatehate) and not being about Christmas at all. I'm guessing that it's a "Christmas story" because it was originally released a few days before Christmas... or maybe based on the Gregorian calendar? The story takes place in January, and has nothing at all Christmasy about it. The celebrations are because of a wedding, and an anniversary, and a new baby... not Christmas. Oh, but maybe the cricket/fairy/angel...? Ehh, it's a stretch.
Grinch, Grinch, Grinch! Scrooge, Scrooge, Scrooge. That's me. FYI.
So, anyway, taking away the non-Christmasness, and the Jim Daleness (hatehatehate), otherwise I thought it was good. Took a little while to get going, but after the twelve minute kettle/cricket serenade, things dropped into the story of Victorian homelife, with a little fantastical twist of having a cricket/fairy/angel in it. Though, honestly, that whole aspect could have been removed, because the conflict was resolved separately.
Umm, so, I guess what I'm saying is that you should only read this while drunk. It'll make perfect sense then.
May 23, 2016
A heartwarming tale about a middle aged carrier, John Peerybingle, his young wife, Dot . the long suffering Caleb Plummer the latter's blind daughter , Bertha, and Caleb's tight fisted and spiteful employer Mr Tackleton
The cricket on the hearth of the delivery man and his wife's home is the guardian spirit of the family, and warns them of all sorts of things to come.
When Tackleton leads John to believe his wife is involved with a young man, it is the cricket who must act as the voice of reason and point the way to the truth of her innocence, making for a happy ending
I did like the turn of phrase(especially Dot's) and the humour and those who say that this novella lacked Dicken's usual wordcraft were missing something.
The cricket on the hearth of the delivery man and his wife's home is the guardian spirit of the family, and warns them of all sorts of things to come.
When Tackleton leads John to believe his wife is involved with a young man, it is the cricket who must act as the voice of reason and point the way to the truth of her innocence, making for a happy ending
I did like the turn of phrase(especially Dot's) and the humour and those who say that this novella lacked Dicken's usual wordcraft were missing something.
December 17, 2018
Cricket on the Hearth was Dickens' third holiday novel and stands superior to the dark and moody The Chimes but inferior in every way to A Christmas Carol. The plot is a trifle of mistaken impressions with a saccharine ending, unoffensive but also unmemorable.
December 11, 2017
A much cheerier tale than The Chimes with an an imaginative story line which evolves cleverly. Only the clutter of words and clumsy sentence structure gets in the way to spoil it. I did not always find it easy to follow.
Christmastide doesn’t figure at all here but the message and sentiment are quintissential Christmas – Love and fairness towards our fellow man and woman. (Dickens here exploring relationships between men and women had me thinking about his relationships with women, in particular his wife and mistress(es)). The mature carrier, John, married to a much younger woman Dot (real name Mary). Her school friend too is also about to marry a much older man in order to help the flagging family fortunes. This older gent is a toy seller who hates children and has not a little in common with old Scrooge. Dickens also looks at society’s attitudes towards disability – focusing on young blind Bertha and shows himself ahead of his times.
I formed the impression that this tale was written in a hurry and would benefit from editorial intervention, slimming it down somewhat.
Christmastide doesn’t figure at all here but the message and sentiment are quintissential Christmas – Love and fairness towards our fellow man and woman. (Dickens here exploring relationships between men and women had me thinking about his relationships with women, in particular his wife and mistress(es)). The mature carrier, John, married to a much younger woman Dot (real name Mary). Her school friend too is also about to marry a much older man in order to help the flagging family fortunes. This older gent is a toy seller who hates children and has not a little in common with old Scrooge. Dickens also looks at society’s attitudes towards disability – focusing on young blind Bertha and shows himself ahead of his times.
I formed the impression that this tale was written in a hurry and would benefit from editorial intervention, slimming it down somewhat.
January 5, 2024
The Cricket on the Hearth is a novella by Charles Dickens released in December 1845, his third Christmas book preceded by A Christmas Carol and The Chimes. It is subdivided into chapters called "Chirps" similar to the "Staves" of A Christmas Carol or the "Quarters" of The Chimes. It is a heartwarming and sweet story of home and hearth. The Cricket on the hearth appears at important times in the narrative when lessons are to be learned. And I must add that my edition had delightful illustrations as the first book published by Dickens did as well. A wonderful holiday read. I have long associated the Christmas holiday with Charles Dickens and the many adaptations of his beautiful Christmas stories.
December 25, 2019
Not for me
Another of Dickens' short Christmas tales, along with The Chimes which I read and didnt love last year, A Christmas Carol, and maybe a few others. I find these overwrought, and this was also confusing and thin on plot. I think the idea was to create Christmas as an important family holiday, and to rise up against the importance of always working in this new industrial revolution. Others of his works do this better.
Another of Dickens' short Christmas tales, along with The Chimes which I read and didnt love last year, A Christmas Carol, and maybe a few others. I find these overwrought, and this was also confusing and thin on plot. I think the idea was to create Christmas as an important family holiday, and to rise up against the importance of always working in this new industrial revolution. Others of his works do this better.
December 22, 2013
This was a free download from Audible, and who can pass up a free Dickens?
One of Dickens' Christmas stories, this one features a series of misunderstanding and coincidences in typical Dickens fashion.
A Scrooge-like toymaker named Tackleton is engaged to marry a much younger woman, who clearly does not love him, but needs the financial security he offers. Meanwhile, the lovely Dot is also married to a much older man, but alas, events transpire to lead poor Mr. Peerybingle to believe his beloved Dot is secretly meeting with a gallant younger man. Lastly, there is Blind Bertha, the daughter of impoverished Caleb Plumber, who has conspired to conceal from his blind daughter their true circumstances.
These three couples, whose lives are intertwined, are each the beneficiaries of a cricket on a hearth, who conjures household spirits symbolic of all that is good in their lives, and the miseries each endures are overcome in the end.
A heartwarming little tale, though not one of Dickens' best. I didn't delight in any marvelous Dickensian turns of phrases as I have in so many of his other stories, nor were the characters particularly memorable. But it's certainly a nice tale to listen to by a crackling fire. (Or in my case, while raking leaves.)
One of Dickens' Christmas stories, this one features a series of misunderstanding and coincidences in typical Dickens fashion.
A Scrooge-like toymaker named Tackleton is engaged to marry a much younger woman, who clearly does not love him, but needs the financial security he offers. Meanwhile, the lovely Dot is also married to a much older man, but alas, events transpire to lead poor Mr. Peerybingle to believe his beloved Dot is secretly meeting with a gallant younger man. Lastly, there is Blind Bertha, the daughter of impoverished Caleb Plumber, who has conspired to conceal from his blind daughter their true circumstances.
I have said that Caleb and his poor Blind Daughter lived here. I should have said that Caleb lived here, and his poor Blind Daughter somewhere else—in an enchanted home of Caleb’s furnishing, where scarcity and shabbiness were not, and trouble never entered. Caleb was no sorcerer, but in the only magic art that still remains to us, the magic of devoted, deathless love, Nature had been the mistress of his study; and from her teaching, all the wonder came.
The Blind Girl never knew that ceilings were discoloured, walls blotched and bare of plaster here and there, high crevices unstopped and widening every day, beams mouldering and tending downward. The Blind Girl never knew that iron was rusting, wood rotting, paper peeling off; the size, and shape, and true proportion of the dwelling, withering away. The Blind Girl never knew that ugly shapes of delf and earthenware were on the board; that sorrow and faintheartedness were in the house; that Caleb’s scanty hairs were turning greyer and more grey, before her sightless face. The Blind Girl never knew they had a master, cold, exacting, and uninterested—never knew that Tackleton was Tackleton in short; but lived in the belief of an eccentric humourist who loved to have his jest with them, and who, while he was the Guardian Angel of their lives, disdained to hear one word of thankfulness.
These three couples, whose lives are intertwined, are each the beneficiaries of a cricket on a hearth, who conjures household spirits symbolic of all that is good in their lives, and the miseries each endures are overcome in the end.
A heartwarming little tale, though not one of Dickens' best. I didn't delight in any marvelous Dickensian turns of phrases as I have in so many of his other stories, nor were the characters particularly memorable. But it's certainly a nice tale to listen to by a crackling fire. (Or in my case, while raking leaves.)
June 2, 2020
THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH is one of those stories that causes me to want to ignore the plot structure and character motivation problems, and give it 5-stars simply because it left me with a friendly, satisfied glow. In truth, though, the coincidences, artifices, and some character reactions are of the “Aw, c’mon!” variety ... so much so that it might be subject to derision from Readers in the hands of a less accomplished writer.
One thing that THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH also has is charm aplenty. The Fairy Creatures that emerge at a critical time are magical in more than presence. Dickens could have chosen to spend considerably more time with them, and I would have happily gone along with him. In addition, there is a key description told to a blind girl that literally sent a heartfelt tear down my cheek. I was emotionally moved more than once during this tale.
The story’s greatest strength is the moral reminder that perceptions don’t always reflect the truth, that people we have loved deserve considered reflection instead of hasty judgments, and that ... sometimes ... there truly is magic in the world if we will just take the time to look for it and recognize it when we find it. Suffice it to say that I now have a very different opinion of the occasional cricket that chirps in my garage!
In LITTLE DORRIT, a character who was subject to sudden fits of anger was encouraged to “count to five and twenty.” It isn’t as quick a solution, but I would encourage such disgruntled folk (and pretty much everyone else) to read THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH. Perhaps it will also leave you with a satisfied glow of contentment.
One thing that THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH also has is charm aplenty. The Fairy Creatures that emerge at a critical time are magical in more than presence. Dickens could have chosen to spend considerably more time with them, and I would have happily gone along with him. In addition, there is a key description told to a blind girl that literally sent a heartfelt tear down my cheek. I was emotionally moved more than once during this tale.
The story’s greatest strength is the moral reminder that perceptions don’t always reflect the truth, that people we have loved deserve considered reflection instead of hasty judgments, and that ... sometimes ... there truly is magic in the world if we will just take the time to look for it and recognize it when we find it. Suffice it to say that I now have a very different opinion of the occasional cricket that chirps in my garage!
In LITTLE DORRIT, a character who was subject to sudden fits of anger was encouraged to “count to five and twenty.” It isn’t as quick a solution, but I would encourage such disgruntled folk (and pretty much everyone else) to read THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH. Perhaps it will also leave you with a satisfied glow of contentment.
January 18, 2023
Now I know!
Ever since I read Little Women’s Beth described as the “cricket on the hearth,” I’ve wondered about the meaning. I had heard the cricket was supposed to be a sign of good fortune, but being a Dickens reference, I knew there must be more, which of course there is and this story tells us.
It begins with a kettle. The kettle hums and then the cricket chirps and a tale of family love (mixed with trouble of course) unfolds.
Dickens gives us the gruff carrier John Peerybingle, who transports goods to and from the town to support himself, his busy young wife Dot, their little baby, and the baby’s accident-prone nurse Tilly. There’s a mean old toymaker Gruff and Tackleton, and his assistant, the hard-working Caleb, who dreams up worlds more beautiful than his own to describe to his daughter Bertha, who is blind. Through it all, there is the Peerybingle’s dog Boxer, who Dickens’ drew with such true-to-life animation that he completely stole my heart.
Sentimental? Yes. Saccharine? Maybe. Melodramatic? Sure, but that’s the fun!
For me, The Cricket on the Hearth was Dickens at his most heartwarming.
“…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 human kind.”
Ever since I read Little Women’s Beth described as the “cricket on the hearth,” I’ve wondered about the meaning. I had heard the cricket was supposed to be a sign of good fortune, but being a Dickens reference, I knew there must be more, which of course there is and this story tells us.
It begins with a kettle. The kettle hums and then the cricket chirps and a tale of family love (mixed with trouble of course) unfolds.
Dickens gives us the gruff carrier John Peerybingle, who transports goods to and from the town to support himself, his busy young wife Dot, their little baby, and the baby’s accident-prone nurse Tilly. There’s a mean old toymaker Gruff and Tackleton, and his assistant, the hard-working Caleb, who dreams up worlds more beautiful than his own to describe to his daughter Bertha, who is blind. Through it all, there is the Peerybingle’s dog Boxer, who Dickens’ drew with such true-to-life animation that he completely stole my heart.
Sentimental? Yes. Saccharine? Maybe. Melodramatic? Sure, but that’s the fun!
For me, The Cricket on the Hearth was Dickens at his most heartwarming.
“…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 human kind.”
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