Their conversation continues for a while longer, and they engage in conversation about his nephew’s marriage, and he says the reason he married is because he fell in love, and that is greeted with another, “Bah, humbug!” Could this be a further reflection on the importance of the classes? That the further up the class ladder you got the more isolated you became?
That night Scrooge was about to experience the warning to the terrifying ordeal, but before that he consents, grudgingly, to give his clerk the day off on Christmas Day, but insisting that he arrive extra early in the morning on the day after.
He experiences the spirit of his old friend Marley telling him that three spirits will arrive at midnight on Christmas Day, and that he must change his ways, or he would end up like Marley, dragging chains round with him for eternity.
The next night, as midnight struck, the first of the three spirits arrived. It was the ghost of Christmas past. He took him back to his past and looked at the events of a Christmas when he was younger. He was speaking to a woman. She was speaking about how they were happy when they were both poor, but when Scrooge became rich he changed. This is the biggest reflection yet on the importance of classes in Dickens time, that until he became part of the upper classes Scrooge was a nice man.
On the hour of one the second spirit arrived. He was the ghost of Christmas present. He took Scrooge to the home of his lowly clerk, Mr Cratchit. Although the surroundings were not very good they were homely and had a nice atmosphere. Scrooge observed the family eating, and they were happy. The food they had was not especially great, but all the family were pleased to receive it. And then Scrooge observed little Tim, a crippled boy who, although terribly disadvantaged, was thankful for Christmas and what he had. This is another reflection, showing that the lower classes, although less well off, were more thankful for what little they did have. Also it shows it’s a greater sense of family in the lower classes.
The final spirit ultimately arrived, and it was the spirit of Christmas yet to come. It took him to his own gravestone, which was overgrown and choked in weeds because of neglect, because no-one visits it. Here we see a new side to Scrooge as he asks the spirit if it was the spirit of things to come or things that may come. This shows that he is finally willing to change his ways and be a better person.
When he arrives back he is exuberant. He is determined to make a change and make himself a better person. So he goes round to his nephew’s house and made his peace with him, he also went to his clerk’s house to visit Tiny Tim, and he became, over the next few years, a second father to him.
So how, all through this story, does Dickens show how important the classes were? Well for a start there was the early comparison between Scrooge and his clerk. This showed how, although the clerk lacked all the material possessions that Scrooge had and all the money which he possessed, he had the happiness and the family which Scrooge lacked. Then we saw the contrast between the younger, poorer Scrooge who cared about his girlfriend, and the older richer Scrooge, who felt he didn’t need family. However, Dickens ends this tale on a happier note, by showing that in everyone, lives room for change, and Scrooge is proof of that.
by Richard Williams
11 Mayne
