“... he might keep his eye on his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, sort of tank, was copying letters … the clerks coal was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal but he couldn’t replenish it …”
He was a very timid, cheerful and kind man, though he was poor, Dickens shows that the poor were more joyful and merrier than the rich and those in power. Through Bob Crachit he presents the idea of kindness and generosity makes one happy.
Fred, Scrooges nephew; who was a very merry man showed and presented Dickens view of Christmas:
”But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas… as a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time…” He is presented as a contrast to Scrooge. Scrooge objected to what his nephew said and believes Christmas is another working day,
“every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a shake of holly through his heart”
“A poor excuse for picking a mans pocket every twenty-fifth of December”
When Marley comes to visit Scrooge and tells him about visits of the three ghosts, he was in chains. These chains are as a result of Jacob Marley’s selfishness and greed on the Earth.
“I wear the chain I forged in life… and of my own free will I wore it”
The ghost of Marley also tells Scrooge that he has forged a chain for himself and his chain is longer and heavier than Marley’s
“The weight of the chain of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy…” The chain is to symbolise the uncaring and ignorant attitudes of the rich or wealthy of this time. It offers a warning to those who support Scrooges ideas as it suggests if they continue being selfish, they will be damned.
Scrooge is visited by three ghosts; the first ghost was described to be white and have child-like features,
“… like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man… and being diminished to a child’s proportions. Its hair which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age…”
The first spirit’s voice was said to be soft and gentle like a child. Its voice sounded so distant but he was close,
“The voice was soft and gentle…as if instead of being so close beside him, it were at a distance” Dickens reflects in this spirit the innocence and purity of childhood which people should retain in their life.
The second spirit is bright and jolly. The room he was in was bright full of food marking that Christmas is a time of plenty around and enough to give those in need.
“The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light as if so many little mirrors had been there… there sat a jolly giant, glorious to see who bore a glowing torch…”
The third spirit who was a phantom was dark and cold. He wasn’t warm and jolly like the other two spirits. He doesn’t say any word to show how sinister and dangerous he is. He represents the future for Scrooge-a future that is damned,
“It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which was concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand”. These spirits present scenes that encourage Scrooge to re-asses his life and also encourage the reader to do so.
The spirit of Christmas past showed scrooge a time when he was left alone at school when his sister, Fan came to take him home for Christmas
“…I was going to bed, that I was not afraid to ask him once more if you might come home; and he said yes, you should; and sent me in a coach to bring you…”
Scrooge was, happy at the thought of going home for Christmas. He was a happy lad especially for the fact that his sister came to get him from school. This shows that all people who are rich don’t always start bitter and stingy but start off soft and loving. Dickens believes man is overall good but society changes their behaviour towards life.
Another part of Scrooge’s past is shown to him. He was working for Fezziwig. Fezziwig was the opposite of Mr Scrooge. He was a very generous man. He used to clear his office to arrange a party for his employees, family, and friends. Unlike Scrooge’s working place, Fezziwig was bright, warm, and comfortable emphasizing the warmth and generosity surrounding Fezziwig.
“... Every movable was packed off as if it were dismissed from a public life for evermore; the floor was swept and watered, the lamps were trimmed, fuel heaped upon the fire…” Old Fezziwig was associated with compassion, and a person who spreads happiness, like Scrooges nephew, Fred. After that memory, Scrooge begins to understand he had the power to make people around him happy or depressed.
Scrooge’s loneliness and melancholy began when he and his fiancé, Annabelle broke-off their relationship. She and Scrooge were meant to get married but Scrooge was too concerned about his money that he no longer loved her anymore. Dickens believed that money was the root of all evil and to Scrooge; his money had become his god.
“Our contract is an old one. It was made when we were both poor and content to be so, until, in good season we could improve our cowardly fortune by our patient industry…” Scrooge had become uncaring for the other things that once used to matter in his life (Annabelle). He loved his money more than anything.
The ghost of Christmas present takes Scrooge to the house of Bob Crachit. Scrooge sees how small their Christmas dinner is and how content they were. Scrooge notices Tiny Tim, the crippled son of Bob Crachit. Tiny Tim was always happy and jolly and was very content with what he had. Dickens uses Tiny Tim as a symbol of the Christmas view, and his comment “God bless everyone” is a message to everyone that we should help one another. Scrooge takes interest in Tim and wants to find out about his future, when the spirit states that the boy will die.
“I see a vacant seat, in the poor chimney corner and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the future the child will die.” Scrooge begins to feel bad and cares for the welfare of Tiny Tim. When the spirit is leaving Scrooge, he quotes the words of Scrooge “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?” to get Scrooge thinking about his life and what will become of others if he does not change.
The ghost of Christmas future shows Scrooge how people do not turn up for a man’s funeral because of his greed and wickedness. Instead of showing compassion and misery towards this mans death, they are happy and show no compassion “I thought he’d never die.” He brought misery upon all those who knew him and he was not going to be missed. The spirit took him to the house of Bob Crachit. The house that was once jolly and full of happiness was now grey and bitter. Tiny Tim had died and it affected the family a lot,
“He broke down all at once. He couldn’t help it. If he could have helped it, he and his child would have been further apart perhaps than they were.” Bob Crachit couldn’t stop crying because he missed Tiny Tim (he brought joy and life to the family). When the spirit took Scrooge to a graveyard and points him in the direction of a tombstone. Scrooge is scared and asks the spirit
“… Are these shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of the things that May be, only?” Scrooge has changed and does not want to die a horrible death. He has changed and wants to be remembered as a good person and wants people to attend his burial.
Eventually, Scrooge does change and he becomes very warm and kind to those around him. He helps Tiny Tim who does live and Scrooge became like a father to him. The ghost of Christmas present revealed two children that were under his cloak. These children personify want and ignorance being the most important. Dickens wants people who are ignorant to help change the situation of the world by helping educate the poor and help them with their other needs. The novella did eventually lead to some changes like “the chimney sweep act” and the education of children under the age of sixteen (16).
