“Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim” says Vicki Harrison, the author of Dressed to Thrill. Learning to swim is something that almost everyone can achieve. Just like swimming in the ocean, no matter how overwhelming it can become, everyone can learn to cope with their grief. For the main character, however, he strives to take on his grief without learning to swim. Throughout the story, Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who help him realize that he needs to change how he acts toward himself and other people. The ghost of Christmas Past shows the readers that Scrooge has lost three women whether it was by death or abandonment and that is why he is bad-tempered and grumpy. His way of coping with his feelings is making everyone else around him feel worse. In A Christmas Carol, the loss of women that Scrooge loves negatively impacts his personality throughout his life. After losing the women in his life that make him happy, Scrooge becomes depressed and lonely. Scrooge begins his childhood without a mother figure because she died shortly after he was born. His mom was the first of three women that Scrooge lives the rest of his life without. Without a mom around, his father tends to treat him terribly. Scrooge’s father believes that he is the reason that his mom died. His mom died while having birth to Scrooge and throughout his life, he seems to agree