A note on A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens's 1843 novella, follows miserly Ebenezer Scrooge's supernatural transformation on Christmas Eve, learning compassion through ghostly visitations amid Victorian London's poverty.

Main Characters

• Ebenezer Scrooge: Greedy, isolated financier who despises Christmas and the poor; haunted by spirits, he awakens reformed, embracing generosity and joy.

• Bob Cratchit: Scrooge's loyal, underpaid clerk; devoted family man enduring hardship with optimism, father to ailing Tiny Tim.

• Tiny Tim: Cratchits' crippled, cheerful youngest son; embodies innocent vulnerability, famously declaring "God bless us, every one!".

Minor Characters

• Jacob Marley: Scrooge's deceased partner, appearing as a chained ghost warning of eternal regret for selfish deeds.

• Fred: Scrooge's warmhearted nephew, son of his late sister Fan; hosts festive gatherings, persistently inviting his uncle.

• Ghost of Christmas Past: Childlike spirit revealing Scrooge's joyful youth, lost love Belle, and kind former boss Fezziwig.

• Fezziwig: Scrooge's jovial old employer, hosting lavish balls to show the value of merrymaking over mere wealth.

Plot Summary

On Christmas Eve, Scrooge rebuffs charity collectors, his nephew Fred, and clerk Cratchit; Marley's ghost arrives in chains, foretelling three spirits.

The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come reveal his lonely past (Fezziwig, Belle), Cratchits' struggles (Tiny Tim's fate), and his own bleak death and unlamented grave.

Redeemed at dawn, Scrooge sends a prize turkey to the Cratchits, joins Fred's party, raises Cratchit's wages, and aids the poor, becoming "as good a man as ever lived".

A note on crime and punishment

Crime and Punishment (1866), Fyodor Dostoevsky's psychological novel, follows a destitute student's murder of a pawnbroker, driven by a theory of superior beings transcending morality, and his ensuing guilt, paranoia, and path to redemption in 19th-century St. Petersburg.

Main Characters

·        Rodion Raskolnikov: Impoverished ex-student and protagonist; intellectually arrogant, he kills pawnbroker Alyona to test his "extraordinary man" theory but collapses under guilt and feverish torment.

·        Sonya Marmeladova: Pure-hearted young prostitute supporting her family; embodies Christian compassion, urging Raskolnikov to confess and find spiritual renewal.

·        Dunya Raskolnikova: Raskolnikov's proud, devoted sister; rejects exploitative suitor Luzhin to protect her family, mirroring her brother's moral struggles.

Minor Characters

·        Porfiry Petrovich: Shrewd police investigator psychologically cornering Raskolnikov without direct evidence, representing justice's patient pursuit.

·        Dmitri Razumikhin: Raskolnikov's loyal, practical friend and fellow student; provides comic relief and support, eventually courting Dunya.

·        Svidrigailov: Sinister, wealthy ex-officer obsessed with Dunya; his suicidal end reveals parallels to Raskolnikov's inner darkness.

·        Marmeladov: Sonya's drunken, self-pitying father whose tavern tales introduce her plight and Raskolnikov's world.

Plot Summary

Tormented by poverty, Raskolnikov murders pawnbroker Alyona and her sister Lizaveta, stealing trinkets he hides; paranoia mounts as he encounters Marmeladov and learns of Sonya's sacrifices.
Porfiry subtly interrogates him while Dunya rejects Luzhin and faces Svidrigailov's advances; Sonya reads Lazarus to him, planting confession's seed amid his fevered visions.
Raskolnikov confesses publicly, receiving a Siberian sentence; through Sonya's devotion, he achieves genuine repentance and rebirth.

A note on the atonement

Atonement (2001) by Ian McEwan is a novel of guilt, love, and unreliable narration set across 1930s England, World War II, and the present. It examines how a child's misinterpretation shatters lives, with Briony Tallis seeking redemption through writing.

Main Characters

·        Briony Tallis: Imaginative 13-year-old aspiring writer whose vivid misreading of adult desire leads to a false accusation; matures into a remorseful nurse and author crafting atonement.

·        Cecilia Tallis: Independent Oxford graduate and Briony's elegant older sister; falls deeply in love with Robbie but loses everything due to the accusation.

·        Robbie Turner: Charismatic son of the Tallis housekeeper, educated by Cecilia's father; intelligent and principled, his life derails after prison and war service.

Minor Characters

·        Lola Quincey: 15-year-old cousin of the Tallis girls, actually raped by Paul Marshall; identifies Robbie as the attacker under Briony's influence.

·        Paul Marshall: Sleazy chocolate magnate guest; the true rapist who later marries Lola to silence her.

·        Jackson and Pierrot Quincey: Lola's mischievous younger twin brothers who run away, sparking the night's chaos.

·        Grace Turner: Robbie's loyal mother and the Tallis family housekeeper.​

Plot Summary

In 1935 at the Tallis estate, Briony misinterprets flirtations between Cecilia and Robbie—including a fountain scene and explicit letter—as predatory; she then wrongly accuses him of raping Lola during a search for the twins.
Imprisoned then conscripted into WWII, wounded Robbie retreats to Dunkirk while nursing Cecilia severs family ties; Briony, realizing her error as a nurse, seeks to recant but finds them dead.
Elderly Briony reveals her novel grants fictional reunion and happy ending to Robbie and Cecilia—her ultimate atonement, as reality offered none.

A note on MBA learning skill with reference to the Leonardo da Vinci's method

A note on MBA learning skill with reference to the Leonardo da Vinci's method (information from perplexity.ai)

My question: "Highlight the contemporary MBA students could do their study more effectively with reference to how Leonardo da Vinci learn himself (without school)."

The reply: "Contemporary MBA students, especially part-time ones like those in Hong Kong balancing work and dissertations, can boost effectiveness by adopting Leonardo da Vinci's self-directed learning habits, which relied on curiosity, observation, and hands-on experimentation rather than formal schooling.

Core Da Vinci Principles

Da Vinci embodied seven principles—Curiosità (insatiable curiosity), Dimostrazione (learning via experience), Sensazione (refining senses), Sfumato (embracing ambiguity), Arte/Scienza (balancing art and science), Corporalità (cultivating fitness), and Connessione (seeing interconnections)—that fueled his genius without classrooms.

These habits enabled deep, interdisciplinary mastery, much like MBA needs for strategic thinking and innovation.

Apply to MBA Studies

Cultivate curiosity through questioning. Da Vinci constantly posed questions in notebooks; MBA students can mimic this by maintaining digital commonplace books (e.g., Notion) for dissertation ideas, linking business theories to real Hong Kong cases like restaurant chains.

Prioritize observation and experimentation. Instead of passive lectures, observe markets or dissect case studies hands-on, testing hypotheses in work-integrated projects—ideal for time-bound part-time MBAs using pragmatism lenses.

Connect disciplines broadly. Da Vinci linked art, science, and nature; apply this by blending MBA finance with housing studies or action learning sets for continuous development.

Practical Steps

• Keep portable notebooks for sketches, notes, and backward-writing prompts to spark ideas anytime.
  ​

• Engage senses via field observations (e.g., Hong Kong business sites) and physical routines to sharpen focus.

• Embrace delays for perfection, iterating dissertation drafts experimentally.

Da Vinci Habit	MBA Application	Benefit for Part-Time Students
Note-taking & sketching	Literature reviews, mind maps	Organizes agile 4-month projects
Hands-on testing	Simulations, real-work analysis	Builds experiential competence
Interdisciplinary links	Cross-theory synthesis	Enhances dissertation depth

 

This self-taught approach turns constraints into strengths, fostering lifelong polymath skills.

A collection of blog notes on using chatgpt for research purpose.