In the night, the bells seem to call Trotty. Going to the church, he finds the tower door unlocked and climbs to the bellchamber, where he discovers the spirits of the bells and their goblin attendants who reprimand him for losing faith in man's destiny to improve. He is told that he fell from the tower during his climb and is now dead, and Meg's subsequent life must now be an object lesson for him. There follows a series of visions which he is forced to watch, helpless to interfere with the troubled lives of Meg, Richard, ...
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In the night, the bells seem to call Trotty. Going to the church, he finds the tower door unlocked and climbs to the bellchamber, where he discovers the spirits of the bells and their goblin attendants who reprimand him for losing faith in man's destiny to improve. He is told that he fell from the tower during his climb and is now dead, and Meg's subsequent life must now be an object lesson for him. There follows a series of visions which he is forced to watch, helpless to interfere with the troubled lives of Meg, Richard, Will and Lilian over the subsequent years. Richard descends into alcoholism; Meg eventually marries him in an effort to save him, but he dies ruined, leaving her with a baby.
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The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells That Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In is one of five Christmas books written in the 1840s by English writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870). Set on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, it tells the story of Trotty Veck, who witnesses visions presented by goblins residing in the bell tower of a church. The moral I took from this story (and many of Dickens' stories can be classified as morality tales) is that time is given to us for our advancement and improvement. Rather than focusing on the past we need to use the present to improve the human condition. I found this story to be somewhat similar to Dickens' A Christmas Carol, but not as good as the latter. Nevertheless, The Chimes is a good story with a pertinent message.
