Charles Dickens' The Battle of Life - Review

The Battle of Life by Charles Dickens

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A love story of romance and family.

On the eve of a young man's departure into the wider world, a family dine together, and his young love promises to wait for him.

But on his return, he finds her vanished into the night with another man, leaving him and her family heartbroken.

All the players must navigate the trials and strife life offers, in the ongoing quest to live and do the best with the time one has.

'The Battle of Life' is the fourth of Charles Dickens' Christmas books. Differing from the previous three in that it features no supernatural phenomena, it is instead a tale of love and loss, of family and sacrifice, of change through the passage of time. The Christmas magic is far more metaphorical, felt through its themes and message, with only the second of the three parts taking place in the depths of winter, the opening events of the first and culminating events of the third taking place in the autumn.

Opening with a vivid description of an ancient battle and the changes wrought by the intervening years upon the battlefield, we are then introduced to the central characters - sisters Grace and Marion, their father and Marion's betrothed, Alfred. In its domestic and family themes and use of an omniscient first person narrator, either an unseen observer or someone telling the tale through hearsay, it feels reminiscent of its predecessor 'The Cricket on the Hearth'.

Dickens' trademark social commentary is more subtle in this novella, as we witness the unfolding events. The first part explores a philosophy of life, weaving the thread that runs throughout the story of viewing the struggles of life, including romance, as a figurative battle. Taking place across almost a decade, we witness how the plans for one's life go awry as the narrative picks up three years later, followed by an unexpected disappearance, returning a further six years later for closure, and concluding with some philosophy on time itself.

Whimsical and laced in metaphor, 'The Battle of Life' is another portrayal of Dickens' view on the truth of Christmas - of love and finding light in the dark.



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