Brave in Ribbons

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During Stave One, Scrooge argues that he can't afford to make people merry. However, upon remembering his time with Fezziwig he remembers that it doesn't cost much to make people happy - and that the happiness you can give is as "great" as if it had cost a fortune. Arguably, here, Scrooge is seeing that all kinds of benefits can come from being a little more generous. Is, in fact, money spent on good times money well invested? We'd a deal of work to finish up last night,'' replied the girl, ``and had to clear away this morning, mother!'' He has given us plenty of merriment, I am sure,” said Fred, “and it would be ungrateful not to drink his health. Here is a glass of mulled wine ready to our hand at the moment; and I say, ‘Uncle Scrooge!’ ” In time the bells ceased, and the bakers were shut up; and yet there was a genial shadowing forth of all these dinners and the progress of their cooking, in the thawed blotch of wet above each baker’s oven; where the pavement smoked as if its stones were cooking too.

The Cratchit Family Christmas Then up rose Mrs

I was only going to say,” said Scrooge’s nephew, “that the consequence of his taking a dislike to us, and not making merry with us, is, as I think, that he loses some pleasant moments, which could do him no harm. I am sure he loses pleasanter companions than he can find in his own thoughts, either in his mouldy old office, or his dusty chambers. I mean to give him the same chance every year, whether he likes it or not, for I pity him. He may rail at Christmas till he dies, but he can’t help thinking better of it—I defy him—if he finds me going there, in good temper, year after year, and saying Uncle Scrooge, how are you? If it only puts him in the vein to leave his poor clerk fifty pounds, that’ssomething; and I think I shook him yesterday.” So Martha hid herself, and in came little Bob, the father, with at least three feet of comforter exclusive of the fringe, hanging down before him; and his threadbare clothes darned up and brushed, to look seasonable; and Tiny Tim upon his shoulder. Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame.Are there no prisons?” said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. “Are there no workhouses?” The disabled child who is almost angelically innocent was a common character in Victorian literature. There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn’t believe there ever was such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavour, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration. Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, it was a sufficient dinner for the whole family; indeed, as Mrs. Cratchit said with great delight (surveying one small atom of a bone upon the dish), they hadn’t ate it all at last! Yet every one had had enough, and the youngest Cratchits in particular, were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows! But now, the plates being changed by Miss Belinda, Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone—too nervous to bear witnesses—to take the pudding up and bring it in.

Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol | Character Analysis

In this first stave, Bob is named as simply ‘the clerk’. This suggests that Bob is representative of the British workforce at the time. In the future shown to Scrooge, Tiny Tim has died, and his family is in mourning. Despite her grief, Mrs. Cratchit uses a cheerful voice to speak of her husband and of Tiny Tim. This juxtaposition of her grief and cheer indicates that she always tries to protect and take care of her family, despite her struggle. Mrs. Cratchit puts on a brave face and stays strong for her family, which takes a toll on her, as her voice falters with grief when she speaks of Tiny Tim. Mrs. Cratchit is only human; despite her unwavering strength and happiness, she tries to present herself to her family. Lesson Summary Well! Never mind so long as you are come,'' said Mrs Cratchit. ``Sit ye down before the fire, my dear, and have a warm, Lord bless ye!'' More shame for him, Fred!” said Scrooge’s niece, indignantly. Bless those women; they never do anything by halves. They are always in earnest. I see a vacant seat,” replied the Ghost, “in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.”

Scrooge’s nephew revelled in another laugh, and as it was impossible to keep the infection off; though the plump sister tried hard to do it with aromatic vinegar; his example was unanimously followed.

Themes Poverty A Christmas Carol (Grades 9–1) - York Notes

In this part of the novel, the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to visit the home of his clerk, Bob Cratchit, on Christmas Day. This family consists of Bob Cratchit, Mrs. Cratchit, and their six children. They have Martha, Peter, Tiny Tim, Belinda, and two younger children who remain unnamed in the story. They are a family of meager means filled with love for one another. I’ll drink his health for your sake and the Day’s,” said Mrs. Cratchit, “not for his. Long life to him! A merry Christmas and a happy new year! He’ll be very merry and very happy, I have no doubt!” Indeed, I think he loses a very good dinner,” interrupted Scrooge’s niece. Everybody else said the same, and they must be allowed to have been competent judges, because they had just had dinner; and, with the dessert upon the table, were clustered round the fire, by lamplight. The adjectives ‘withered’ and ‘little’ show how frail and vulnerable Tiny Tim is and highlights Bob’s need to love and protect him. He doesn’t reject his son for his disability but is concerned for him; the syndetic list shows the range of deep, caring emotions Bob feels for his crippled boy.If you should happen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest in a laugh than Scrooge’s nephew, all I can say is, I should like to know him too. Introduce him to me, and I’ll cultivate his acquaintance. For, the people who were shovelling away on the housetops were jovial and full of glee; calling out to one another from the parapets, and now and then exchanging a facetious snowball—better-natured missile far than many a wordy jest—laughing heartily if it went right and not less heartily if it went wrong. The poulterers’ shops were still half open, and the fruiterers’ were radiant in their glory. There were great, round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen, lolling at the doors, and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. There were ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish Onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish Friars, and winking from their shelves in wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at the hung-up mistletoe. There were pears and apples, clustered high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of grapes, made, in the shopkeepers’ benevolence to dangle from conspicuous hooks, that people’s mouths might water gratis as they passed; there were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered leaves; there were Norfolk Biffins, squat and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and lemons, and, in the great compactness of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner. The very gold and silver fish, set forth among these choice fruits in a bowl, though members of a dull and stagnant-blooded race, appeared to know that there was something going on; and, to a fish, went gasping round and round their little world in slow and passionless excitement. Well! Never mind so long as you are come,” said Mrs. Cratchit. “Sit ye down before the fire, my dear, and have a warm, Lord bless ye!” Oh, I have!” said Scrooge’s nephew. “I am sorry for him; I couldn’t be angry with him if I tried. Who suffers by his ill whims! Himself, always. Here, he takes it into his head to dislike us, and he won’t come and dine with us. What’s the consequence? He don’t lose much of a dinner.” After worrying about Christmas pudding not being enough or something going wrong with it, she brings out the desert. Her pride exists in being able to provide a lovely Christmas dinner and pudding for her family. Her flush is a mix of her prior worry and current joy, while her smile indicates her overwhelming love for her family. The juxtaposition of worry and joy is a good representation of Mrs. Cratchit. She loves her family and tries to remain strong and positive for them, but she is also plagued by constant worry that she will not be able to give them all they need and deserve.