bob

• Bob Cratchit


  The downtrodden clerk in Charles Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol
• Ebenezer Scrooge


  The protagonist of the story, Bob Cratchit's employer
• Bob Cratchit is subjected to horrendous working conditions and an unfairly low salary</b>
• Despite his awful circumstances, Bob Cratchit is able to keep his over-the-top Christmas spirit and never complains or slanders Scrooge
• Bob Cratchit is not named in the first stave, he is simply referred to as 'the clerk'
• The description of Bob Cratchit's one coal fire and him trying to warm himself with a candle are pitiful
• Bob Cratchit has almost no dialogue in the first stave, Dickens tells the reader what the clerk says
• Bob Cratchit is terrified of his employer Scrooge and is at the mercy of his whims
• Bob Cratchit's salary of 15 shillings a week is not enough to comfortably support his family
• The repetition of '15 shillings' draws attention to how little Bob Cratchit earns
• After leaving Scrooge's office, Bob Cratchit's real character comes out - he is bursting with energy
• At the Cratchit household, Bob Cratchit is the ideal family man, playing the role of father and husband perfectly
• The Cratchit family treats their modest dinner like an absolute banquet, showing their pride and determination not to complain
• Bob Cratchit calls Scrooge the 'founder of the feast' at Christmas dinner, more than he deserves
• Bob Cratchit's wife Mrs Cratchit is the only one to voice a complaint, but Bob responds by focusing on the children
• Bob Cratchit's Christian faith and determination to hold his family together are admired
• After Tiny Tim's death, Bob Cratchit is deeply affected but still tries to be cheerful and loving for his family
• Bob Cratchit's extreme reaction to Scrooge's transformation shows how unbelievable it would be to those who did not witness it
• Scrooge mentioning Bob Cratchit's name four times in their final interaction shows he is no longer just a nameless clerk
• Bob Cratchit and his family provide a window into the struggles of the poorer working class for upper and middle class readers
• Bob Cratchit teaches readers the value of money and that it cannot buy happiness and fatherly love
• Bob Cratchit's stoicism, hard times, and determination to hold his family together are still relevant lessons today
• Bob Cratchit


  Scrooge's clerk, represents the exploited, underpaid, yet hard-working employee
• Despite Scrooge's miserly ways


  Bob toasts him, declaring him 'the Founder of the Feast'
• Bob's action


  • Draws the attention of the reader to his Christian generosity of human spirit in the face of financial hardship and ill treatment
• Mrs Cratchit's attitude to Scrooge


  'I wish I had him here. I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope he'd have a good appetite for it'
• Mrs Cratchit's righteous indignation

  Calmed by her husband reminding her that it is Christmas
• Dickens depicts Bob as a dedicated employee, even though Scrooge treats him badly
• Bob at the start of the novella

  • Unable to keep himself warm at work, wears a 'comforter' (scarf) and tries 'to warm himself at the candle', Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal, Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room
• Bob


  • Has resilience, leaves Scrooge's office at the end of the day and 'ran home to Camden Town as hard as he could pelt, to play at blindman's-buff', finds comfort and joy in his family and is excited about Christmas
• Mrs Cratchit


  Dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a goodly show for sixpence
• Mrs Cratchit's effort to mark Christmas day with 'ribbons'


  Contrasts with Scrooge's cold, bare rooms and lack of decoration
• Mrs Cratchit's role is defined by others as Bob's 'good wife'
• Bob reports after the future Tiny Tim's death that Fred has expressed his condolences: 'I am heartily sorry for it, Mr. Cratchit,' he said, 'and heartily sorry for your good wife.' By the bye, how he ever knew that, I don't know."
• Contemporary attitudes of the time towards married women, who were judged by their role in relation to a husband
• An obedient wife was praised
• Dickens' experiences with his mother who, seeing the value of an extra income, was very reluctant for him to leave his job at Warren's Blacking Warehouse after his father had been released from debtors' prison


  Contribute towards his beliefs that a husband should be the decision maker, and his wife should be obedient and submissive
• At the time, it was commonly believed that women were ruled by their emotions and not capable of 'rational' thought
• When Dickens describes Mrs Cratchit's emotional outburst


  This conforms to contemporary ideas about women
• Mrs Cratchit's comment contrasts with Bob's, emphasising Bob's Christian generosity of human spirit in the face of financial hardship and ill treatment