Christmas Eve Scrooge's Jacob Marley Miser
Christmas Eve Scrooge's Jacob Marley Miser
Christmas Eve Scrooge's Jacob Marley Miser
is full of simple happiness despite being seriously ill. The spirit informs Scrooge that Tiny
Tim will soon die unless the course of events changes. Before disappearing, the spirit
shows Scrooge two hideous, emaciated children named Ignorance and Want; he tells
Scrooge to beware the former above all, and replies to Scrooge's concern for their welfare
by repeating Scrooge's own words: "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"
The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, shows Scrooge Christmas Day one
year later. Tiny Tim has died because Cratchit could not afford to provide the boy with
proper care on his meager salary. The spirit then shows Scrooge scenes involving the
death of a "wretched man". The man's funeral will only be attended by local businessmen if
lunch is provided. Hischarwoman, his laundress, and the local undertaker steal his
bedroom fixtures while his corpse still lays in the bed, and sell them to a fence. The spirit
then shows Scrooge the man's neglected grave: the tombstone bears Scrooge's name.
Sobbing, Scrooge pledges that he will change his ways in hopes that he may "sponge the
writing from this stone".
Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning with joy and love in his heart. He spends the day
with Fred's family, and anonymously sends a prize turkey[28] to the Cratchit home for
Christmas dinner. The following day, he gives Cratchit a raise, and becomes like "a second
father" to Tiny Tim. A changed man, Scrooge now treats everyone with kindness,
generosity, and compassion; he now embodies the spirit of Christmas. The story closes
with the narrator repeating Tiny Tim's famous words: "God bless us, everyone!"