Original artwork, not a still
A Christmas Carol ‧ 1843
Mankind was my business.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is Dickens's moral in a sentence: money-making was a sideline to being human, and the ghost learned too late. The reply to Scrooge's praise works as a rebuke to him, since Scrooge defines himself by business alone. The line is still what people reach for when a company forgets its people.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for A Christmas CarolShow the scene
Still in Stave One, Marley's ghost laments the chances he wasted in life. Scrooge tries to comfort him, faltering that Jacob was always a good man of business. Marley answers by crying out, wringing his hands, that mankind was his business. The common welfare, charity, mercy, forbearance and benevolence were all his business, he says, and the dealings of his trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of it.
Sources (1)
- A Christmas Carol (Project Gutenberg text)Stave I, Marley's GhostReference checked
Context reviewed
