Family Theme

• By making Scrooge regret his actions, Dickens is trying to emphasize the importance of family
• If someone as cold and mean-spirited as Scrooge can see how significant family is, then it must be really important
• In Stave 3, the narration makes a comment about the Cratchit family
• There was nothing of highmark in this; they were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being waterproof: 'but they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time'
• Despite their lack of wealth


  The Cratchits are happy and lead satisfactory lives because they have each other
• This raises questions about whether having a strong loving family trumps poverty, and whether the love the Cratchits share makes their difficult lives easier
• Dickens may have used an emotive theme like family so he could more successfully spread his story's message
• Fred and his family and friends celebrate Christmas by having music and singing
• Dickens is able to use Fred's family as a means of celebrating all of the normal middle and upper class families


  This was a clever tactic to flatter his readership so they more successfully take on the moral of his story
• Bob Cratchit: 'My little, little child'
• Dickens de-romanticizes the idea of family by showing the pain of losing a family member
• Dickens may have done this to remind his middle and upper class readership of the harsh realities of working class life
• At the end, Scrooge is described as a "second father" to Tiny Tim
• This marks the completion of Scrooge's redemption, as he is no longer the mean old miser but an enormously positive figure