If one were ignorant of the film’s reputation, It’s a Wonderful Life would seem an odd pick for a Christmas classic. The film opens with a man seriously contemplating suicide, and many of the themes of the film aren’t exactly the lighthearted, mirth-filled types that one would usually associate with the season. Indeed, the vast majority of the film is a disturbing one, and if one were to miss the last twenty minutes of the film, they would be forgiven for assuming that it was a tragedy.
Aristotle tells us that tragedy requires “a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty.”1 If this is the case, then George Bailey’s character is truly a tragic one for the majority of the film. While George, when push comes to shove, chooses the virtuous path; these decisions continually rob him of his dreams. George states throughout the film that he dreams of leaving behind his hometown of Bedford Falls, exploring the world, and becoming a famous architect, making bridges, skyscrapers, and the like. Yet he repeatedly stymies his opportunities to realize these ends by taking on responsibilities at home, almost always in circumstances outside of his control. From assuming headship of the Bailey Brothers’ Building and Loan Company in the wake of his father’s sudden passing, to giving up on his college ambitions after his brother’s marriage, and even forfeiting his honeymoon to preserve said company during the 1929 Wall Street Crash, George’s dreams are continually crushed by the outside world.
And while George does make the selfless choice in these circumstances, he, unlike Aristotle’s man of virtue, takes no delight in doing so. Driven in such choices by a Kantian sense of duty to his family and fellow man, George grows increasingly resentful at his circumstances. Eventually, even his sense of duty erodes. George is unable to serve his country in the Second World War due to his childhood ear injury, caused by his selfless saving of his drowning brother. While this very same brother goes on to make a name for himself as a fighter ace, being awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics and being honored by the President himself, George remains in a town he despises, unable to do little more for the war effort than sell war bonds. The end of the war brings George to the breaking point, as his uncle, who is also his business partner, misplaces $8,000 of their business’ money, threatening the bank with ruin, and George himself with jailtime. George’s resentment at his situation boils over and, feeling as if the totality of his life choices have led only to the detriment of himself and those around him, he considers suicide.
If one takes an honest look at his circumstances, they may sympathize. George never had the life he envisaged. He never lived his dreams of seeing the world, or becoming a renowned architect, or even leaving Bedford Falls. Instead, he is locked in a hopeless and never-ending battle with Mr. Henry Potter, the rich arch-mogul of the town, who is able to (and does at one point) offer George the very dreams that seem constantly out of reach for him. Unfettered wealth, worldly success, and travel – all of these are possible for George if he signs over the Building and Loan Company, and those whose lives have been bettered by it, to Mr. Potter. And while George, dutiful as ever, turns down the initial offer, the question is raised as he considers ending his life: should he have chosen otherwise? Have all of these selfless choices, all these acts of righteousness, borne any fruit at all for George? Have they not caused him constant suffering? What was the point of it all?
For George, Divine Intervention in the form of Clarence the angel is needed to answer this question. Only by being shown a world where he doesn’t exist does George come to realize just what a wonderful life he has truly lived. And when he next prays to God, he doesn’t ask for the life he never had, or even the money to repay the debt for his business, but only to live again. For George has learned that life, even if not the one he imagined, is worth living. For he is already the richest man he could hope to be, rich in a wealth Mr. Potter could never possess, and one George would never have had if he had the life of his dreams. This is a wealth that endures, that warms the heart and the soul, that cannot be bought or sold. As the most versatile author of the 20th century so eloquently put it:
They say (and I am glad they say)
It is so; and it may be so:
It may be just the other way,
I cannot tell. But this I know:
From quiet homes and first beginning,
Out to undiscovered ends,
There’s nothing worth the wear of winning,
But laughter and the love of friends.2
Divine Providence, much like St. Nicholas and children’s Christmas presents, does not always provide us with what we want, but always what we need. May the Lord provide us this Christmastide with the grace to see that it truly is a wonderful life we have been given, and that it is one worth living.
From all of us at The Brownson Record, we wish you a very Merry Christmas. May God bless every one of you.
- Aristotle. Poetics. (Chapter XIII), https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/media/1812/The%2520Poetics%2520of%2520 Aristotle%252C%2520by%2520Aristotle.pdf ↩︎
- Belloc, Hilaire. Verses. (Dedicatory Ode), https://gutenberg.org/files/60487/60487-h/60487-h.htm#Page_58 ↩︎
