Charles Dickens: Human's Final Destination
"The hereafter is our destination. The world is the journey. So get ready before your arrival." In other words, hereafter is eternal life in which we will no longer be separated from our loved ones through death but are united. However, before humans go there, they have to wait their time to come by doing well such as being patients when they are left by their family. This is just like the story of a child who had to endure the sadness of losing his family members many times, his youngest brother, younger sister, mother, and daughter. This story is told in Charles Dickens's short story "A Child's Dream of a Star" which demonstrates that the final destination of human life is hereafter.
The three characters of the child show the human's process in understanding the exits of the afterlife. At the beginning, the reader finds that the child is a deep thinker which makes him understand that every child in this world has their timeline to go to the hereafter. This idea is portrayed when he and his sister discussed whether the world would regret if all children die and found that they would be. It indicates that it is not good if all children in this world die at the same time because the balance of nature will be disturbed. Furthermore, after his sister died, he becomes a spiritual person who firmly believes that the afterlife is his last home. Since he had"...looked out upon the star as on the home he was to go to," and "... thought that he did not belong to the earth alone, but to the star too," he already realizes that hereafter is the certainty that somehow he will go and live there. At the end of his life, the reader can see that he is a patient person. He is strong enough to endure the loss without blaming fate and says "' My daughter's head is on my sister's bosom, and her arm is around my mother's neck, and at her feet, there is the baby of old-time, and I can bear the parting from her, GOD be praised!'". Overall, the reader knows the process of understanding the exits of the afterlife through the characters of the child from the beginning to the end.
Charles Dickens frequently uses symbolism and simile to affirm the message about the afterlife. He mostly uses symbolism to describe the hereafter. Every night, the child and his sister watch the "...clear shining star," which symbolizes heaven, purity, or happiness in the hereafter. The position of the star is "...near the church spire," which symbolizes religiosity and spirituality, and "...above the graves." which symbolizes the time to go to the hereafter. From those two symbols, the reader can understand that hereafter is a place where the child and his sister will go after death and relates to their religiousness and spirituality. Furthermore, Charles Dickens also uses similes to portray how the child feels when his turn comes. He says "...My age is falling from me like a garment," which means his bodies separate from the spirit as clothing is separated from the body when dying. After that, he "...move towards the star [the hereafter] as a child" which means he goes there happily because the wait is over. Briefly, the use of symbols and similes in this story is to describe the hereafter and human feeling when going there.
The child's journey towards the star (hereafter) relates to several verses of Al-Qur'an. Surah Al-mu'min verse 39 states "O my people the life of this world is only (temporary) pleasure ..." We are given insight that death is the form of the transience of this world as it has already happened five times in the story namely, the death of the child's youngest brother, young sister, mother, maiden daughter and the child himself. Moreover, surah Al-'Ala verse 17 states "While the afterlife is better and more eternal." In the story, it is described when the child dreamt about the star. He saw "...a train of people taken up that sparkling road by angels." Then the star showed him "... a great world of light," Not only that, there were many angels who received them with "... their beaming eyes..." and sometimes they "...fell upon the people's necks, and kissed them tenderly, and went away with them down avenues of light," and over there he was being gathered with their family in eternity and said, "'...O, Father, now, I thank thee that it has so often opened, to receive those dear ones who awaits me!'". To sum up, the journey of the child to the afterlife relates to Qur'an's verses namely surah Al-mu'min:39 and Al-'Ala: 17 which explain afterlife is better and eternal.
No matter how long a human's journey in this life, their final destination is hereafter. In the story of "A Child's Dream of a Star", the child has to be a deep thinker to understand that every child in this world has their own time to go to maintain the balance of nature. Further, he grows up to be a spiritual and patient person. He believes that his life is not only on earth but will be on the star too. Therefore, when his family members die one by one, he is patient in bearing his sadness until his turn comes. Regardless of that, Charles Dickens uses two literary devices to affirm the message namely three symbols in describing hereafter and two similes in describing the human feeling when going there. Moreover, the reader can find the relation between this story and Al-Qur'an's verses. The five deaths which happen in the story relate to surah Al-mu'min verse 39 which explains that life in this world is temporary. The child's dream about everything happen on the star and his condition after death relates to surah Al-'Ala verse 17 which explains that the afterlife is better and eternal. Overall, this story is a good reminder of the hereafter.
