Role of Tiny Tim Character in Scrooge's Fate

In this paragraph I will focus on the character of Scrooge & how he starts to realise his social responsibility. Dickens made Scrooge the main character to represent all the rich people in London, so if he could change Scrooge, he thought he could change all the rich people in London, and to help the poor. At the beginning of the novel Scrooge can be described as:-” A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching old sinner”. This range of adjectives show what a man Scrooge was.

Also this simile shows what Scrooge was like: – “Hard & sharp as a flint”.

His views on Christmas and on giving money to the poor are very negative. When the members of a charity come to collect money, Scrooge uses humour to express his views:- “Everyone who likes Christmas should be buried with a stake of holly through their heart, and should be boiled with their Christmas pudding”. This shows what Scrooge thinks of Christmas.

Visits from the ghosts help Scrooge realise his social responsibility by showing him what will happen in the future, if he does not change his ways. The ghost of Christmas past takes Scrooge back into episodes from his past life to show him his mistakes.

When Scrooge was a boy he was very lonely and he was always by himself, then later Scrooge says:- “Nothing, there was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should have given him something”. This shows that Scrooge is thinking of that boy as himself and knows what it is like to be lonely, and regrets not giving him something.

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Also Scrooge’s sister, Fran was very kind to him, and rescued him at Christmas, then when the spirit asks him if he has any relatives he replies:- “Scrooge seemed uneasy in his mind, and answered briefly Yes”.

This shows that Scrooge is remembering how much he loved his sister, and how badly he has been treating his nephew, Fred. Also then they go to Scrooge’s old boss’s Christmas party, his old boss Mr. Fezziwig invites everyone round, stops all work, treats Scrooge very well, he brought in a fiddler to play music, there is lots of food & drink, and everyone is happy & jolly. Then suddenly Scrooge says:- “I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now”. This shows Scrooge starting to think of other people, and how badly he treated Bob Crachet.

After that suddenly Scrooge breaks up with Belle(Scrooge’s girl friend), Belle says:- “But if you were free today, tomorrow, yesterday can even I believe that you would choose a dowerless girl”. This shows that Belle is letting Scrooge go, because he will not get a dowery, a dowery is when the father of the bride gives the husband money to take her away. Also a few years later, Belle had a child with someone:- “He thought that such another creature, quite as graceful and as full of promise, might have called him father”.

This shows that Scrooge regrets breaking up with Belle, and wants he to be her husband, and the child’s father, so Scrooge is very jealous. In this paragraph I am going to analyse the character of Tiny Tim and why he is significant. When Tiny Tim enters he is described as:- “Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little wooden crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame”. This shows that Tiny Tim is disabled and can’t look after himself. Dickens made Tiny Tim a child because people feel more sympathy towards children.

Plus Tiny Tim represents all the poor people and children who need help around the world. Tiny Tim is Bob Crachet’s son, later Bob talks about his son to his wife, he says:- “He hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple”. This shows that Tiny Tim wants people to remember Jesus at Christmas through him. Tiny Tim makes Scrooge change by making him realise how poor him and his family are. But the Crachet family are not greedy though; “Nobody said or thought it was a small pudding for a large family”.

This shows that the Crachet family were very grateful for what they had. Tiny Tim also likes to says:- “God bless us everyone”. This shows Tiny Tim is thinking of others a lot of the time. Near the end of the chapter, Scrooge and the spirit are talking about Tiny Tim:- “What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population”. This shows the spirit is using Scrooge’s own words back at him when he was talking to the charity workers.

Tiny Tim helps Scrooge to change by making him realise how badly he has been treating Bob Crachet, and that if Scrooge does not pay his clerk more salary then Tiny Tim will die, because the Crachet family need the money for more food and medicine. Scrooge’s nephew’s views about social responsibility are very different from Scrooge’s, because Fred does not only care about himself and his money, he cares of others and helping others:- “And therefore uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good”.