A Christmas Carol

• In stave 1, we are shown how Ebenezer Scrooge poorly treats his clerk, Bob Cratchit; doesn’t give to charity; is rude to his nephew and is solely focused on wealth. He is visited by the ghost of his late and only friend, Jacob Marley, who warns him that he will encounter three more ghosts who will try and get him to change his ways.

   
• In stave 2, Scrooge is visited by the first of the three ghosts: Christmas past. He is shown scenes of himself as a child, alone at Christmas and of his deceased sister, Fan. He is also shown a party with Fezziwig, his old boss, he sees how, although the party cost very little, the joy it brought to everyone was worth just as much.

   
• In stave 3, Scrooge is visited by The Ghost of Christmas Present, he is shown many people enjoying themselves at Christmas, including his nephew, Fred and the Cratchits. Although they may be poor, he sees them making the most of Christmas and enjoying the time together. Scrooge learns that if things carry on the way they are, Bob Cratchit’s son, Tiny Tim won’t survive for another year. At the end of the stave, Scrooge meets Ignorance and Want, the spirit tells him they are the children of mankind and have been mistreated.
• In stave 4, Scrooge is visited by The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who is dressed in all black and does very little to communicate with Scrooge, apart from pointing. Scrooge is shown a scene of some businessmen, talking about the death of a man, and how little it had affected anyone, because no one cared.
• He also saw a group of thieves, who had stolen items from the man, to sell. He is then taken to see the body of this dead man, but wishes to leave, and take the lesson he had learnt. The spirit the takes him to a graveyard, where scrooge sees an overgrown gravestone with his name on it. Lastly, he is shown the Cratchit family, who are mourning the death of their son, Tiny Tim.
• In stave 5, Scrooge awakes on Christmas morning, desperate to make a change and have a different outcome for his future. He calls to a young boy and sends a large turkey to the Cratchits and then goes to pay a large sum of money to the charity collectors that had previously turned down. He then goes to visit his nephew, Fred and wishes everyone a Merry Christmas. The next morning, he raises Bob’s salary and uses more coal to create a larger fire. From then on, Ebenezer Scrooge was a better, caring man, who kept his Christmas spirit.