Ebenezer Scrooge Change In A Christmas Carol

In A Christmas Carol, Dickens portrays Ebenezer Scrooge as the quintessential miser. Although Scrooge is depicted as a greedy, wealthy, and miserable individual, the point of the story is to show us how and why he changes for the better. The theme tends to be that change is attainable no matter how fixed in our ways we are. Dickens creates the most miserly and cold-hearted man possible and demonstrates that a positive transformation from miserliness to generosity is achievable in the most unlikely circumstance. In the first stave, we learn that Scrooge is very greedy with his great deal of money and prefers to spend his time alone. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is in the office and receives a few visitors. The first is his nephew, Fred, who

It occurs when the second ghost (Ghost of Christmas Present) takes him to the Cratchit family’s home. Scrooge is watching the family of his clerk, Bob Cratchit and although he sees that the Crachit family doesn’t have much money either, they too have love and happiness. Tiny Tim is their sick little boy and has a particular effect on Scrooge. When he sees the little boy in his crippled state, Scrooge asks the Spirit “if Tiny Tim will live” (Dickens 40) and the spirit responds with “[i]f these shadows remain unaltered by the future,” the Spirit responds, “the child will die” (Dickens 40) “[n]o, no,” says Scrooge. “Oh no, kind Spirit! say he will be spared” (Dickens 40). To which the Spirit reproduces Scrooge’s own words from Stave I: “If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population” (Dickens 40). Challenged in this fashion, “Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief” (Dickens 40). This reveals that Scrooge feels compassion for Tiny Tim. When Scrooge discovers that Tim will die unless something unexpected happens, he comes face to face with his past cold-hearted self and feels regret. Tiny Tim looks to be the character that inspires the most significant change by warming Scrooge’s icy

The last ghost, the Ghost of Christmas Future, shows Scrooge a group of wealthy men who are speaking casually about a death that has occurred in the town. The man who has died seems to be unpopular as the men say things like “it’s likely to be a very cheap funeral” said the same speaker “for upon my life I don’t know anybody to go to it” one other man responds “I don’t mind going if a lunch is provided” (Dickens 52). Scrooge asks to see some "emotion caused by this man's death" (Dickens 57). He appears to be anxious by the way the men are neutral about this man’s life being over thus revealing Scrooge’s compassion for this deceased person. When it’s finally revealed that Scrooge is the deceased man, it can be inferred by his horrified and pleading reaction that he is scared that if he does not change he will be alone and a not at all missed old man he had seen in the