A Christmas Carol

Cratchit is Scrooge’s underpaid clerk, who is too poor to own a coat. Though browbeaten, Bob remains good-natured; he is a devoted husband and father (particularly to Tiny Tim) and even defends Scrooge when Mrs. Cratchit disparages him.

In fact, the Cratchit family is better off than many; Bob’s meager salary is enough to support a large family, if not comfortably. None of the children are obliged to work at factories, although his oldest daughter works for a hat maker, and Bob is already looking for an apprenticeship for his oldest son. Bob has a regular job with a salary at a time when jobs are hard to find, which explains why he continues to work for someone as parsimonious and ill-natured as Scrooge.

Tiny Tim, the youngest and sickliest of the Cratchits’ children, represents the Victorian model of the perfect child. The sentimentality of the character may not appeal to modern readers, though a deeper look reveals that there is a sadness in the child that he conceals for the sake of his family.

Narratively, Tiny Tim embodies the archetypal child savior who imparts the child’s characteristics—innocence, optimism, and boundless potential—to the adult (usually an old man). Tim is surrounded by Christ references: his wish that people might see him and “remember […] who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see” (38); the line, “Spirit of Tiny Tim, thy childish essence was from God” (61); and the iconic, “God bless us every one” (40). Even his crutch resembles a modified cross. His other function in the story is to give a face to the “surplus population.” Until Scrooge recognizes statistics as living beings, including children, he is content to disregard their significance.

Although the nature of Tim’s illness is unspecified, modern differential diagnosis suggests distal renal tubular acidosis: a kidney disease that makes the blood acidic, causing bone damage, weakness, and fatigue. It was treatable at the time, but although the Cratchit family was fortunate to have a home and enough food (if just barely), they were not able to afford healthcare sufficient to their needs.

The first ghost who deigns to visit Scrooge is a small, luminous figure who appears both young and old and who burns with a flame like a candle (representing the light of memory). By guiding Scrooge through his memories and causing Scrooge to feel again what he felt in those moments, the spirit reawakens the emotions that were gradually obscured as Scrooge aged and his love of money took over his life.

At the end of their interview, when Scrooge is grieving his lost past, he begs the ghost to put out his light so that Scrooge need not suffer the pain of remembering. It is too late, however: The old feelings refuse to be snuffed out. Other symbolic aspects of the spirit’s appearance include his flickering nature—evocative of the simultaneously forceful and fleeting nature of memory—and the holly branch and flowers he bears. These plants’ respective associations with winter and spring/summer suggest old age and youth; that the ghost embodies both hints at Scrooge’s impending rebirth, as does the holly (a traditional symbol of life amid the dead of winter) in its own right.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is a pagan figure in a story that espouses Christian virtues. Dickens depicts the ghost as Father Christmas, who is based on the Greek and Roman god Saturn. Saturn was associated with generation and dissolution (growth and decay), abundance, wealth, agriculture, and periodic renewal—especially the celebration of Saturnalia, which took place at the death of the old year and the birth of the new. His festivals were celebrated with feasting and gift-giving. This association with food, light, warmth, and human connection made it a profoundly physical and earthy celebration. The implication in this novel is that the celebration of Christmas is more than a perfunctory observance or an intellectual exercise; it is as necessary to life as light and warmth and food. The Ghost of Christmas Present also bears a resemblance to the gods Bacchus and Dionysus, who signify rebirth, wealth, celebration, and plenitude. The torch the ghost carries resembles the mythological cornucopia—the horn of plenty, which overflows with fruit, nuts, and flowers. Instead, the ghost’s torch spills out the spirit of Christmas.

The Ghost of Christmas Present builds on the feelings that the Ghost of Christmas Past awoke in Scrooge. By showing him scenes of people celebrating together, the spirit awakens a sense of the human connection Scrooge has lost—not only with other people but also with himself. Scrooge neglects his own physical comfort and seems unaware of cold, darkness, or hunger.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears in the form of death because for Scrooge, there is no Christmas yet to come. He will be dead by the next Christmas (at least if he does not make significant changes in his life). The ghost is enigmatic because the future is enigmatic. He promises nothing because the future promises nothing. However, the spirit’s uniquely frightening appearance says as much about Scrooge as it does about himself. For people like the Cratchits, death is a cause for sorrow but not for dread. They have been loved and will be remembered.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come makes no promises to Scrooge that he can change anything. Scrooge chooses to change not merely because he fears death and being forgotten but also because he has remembered how to love other people. Guaranteeing Scrooge life (or even returned affection) in exchange for transformation would remove the element of choice and undercut the purity of Scrooge’s desire to care for others. 

Fred is the son of Scrooge’s younger sister, Fan. Scrooge’s nephew is a great laugher and embodies the joy and community of Christmas. He refuses to let Scrooge push him away and is overjoyed when his uncle attends his party. He has far less wealth than Scrooge—Scrooge considers him poor, although he certainly is not—yet he is far more generous. He is about to become a father for the first time, making him one of several fathers in the story.

Marley, Scrooge’s old partner, appears to Scrooge as a ghost and cautions him of the dangers of his obsession with money. Marley has spent the seven years since his death roaming the world, forever isolated from humankind and forever tormented by his inability to have human contact. Dickens never reveals what was in Marley’s character that made him wish to save Scrooge from his own doom. All the ghosts forced to wander the Earth seem to experience the same woe, but the author doesn’t give any indication of why someone like Marley, who was indifferent to humankind before his death, should be so affected after.

In archetypal terms, Marley is the herald. This figure signals the crossing of a boundary—for example, the boundary between life and death—and often deals with the psychological need for change. The herald always appears at or near the beginning of the story. In A Christmas Carol, the first line announces that Jacob Marley is dead, and his name lingers so that the reader knows who he is before his face appears on Scrooge’s front door.

Fezziwig is the young Scrooge’s jolly, generous boss. He provides the model of what a wealthy and successful businessman should be: He has every reason to be filled with joy and to share that joy. Scrooge, on the other hand, is wealthier than Fezziwig but gets (and gives) no joy at all from his money. Through Fezziwig, Scrooge remembers how easy it is to give happiness to others. Sometimes it takes no more than a kind look to make an employee’s work seem light. Even in his greed, Scrooge might have made the world better without spending a shilling.

Belle was the woman Scrooge loved. She broke their engagement because she recognized that money had become the true love of his life. For Scrooge, Belle represents the archetypal mother—his only chance to become the father that his own father should have been. It is she who states Scrooge’s driving motivation: “You fear the world too much. All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach” (28).