the cratchits Flashcards
bob cratchit’s characterisation
-bob cratchit is introduced to the novella as a timid and nervous man
-he remains unnamed for the first stave and is instead referred to as “the clerk”
-perhaps dickens only identifies Bob according to his occupation to highlight how the lower-class didn’t have an individual identity and were instead only recognised for their service (illustrates the way that the working class were defined by their positions in the workforce, which is where their value came from)
-it could be argued that Bob Cratchit’s role in the novella is to represent the plight of the poor, as he is an immediate source of sympathy in the novella
-when xmas present visits the cratchit household with scrooge the reader sees a different side of bob
-he is a loving father and husband, which could be interpreted as an idealisation of the lower class
-despite his poor wages and cruel employer, bob cratchit remains grateful and compassionate, celebrating christmas in a way that the significantly richer Scrooge never could
-dickens may have also wanted to depict bob cratchit more holistically to present the lower class in a different light
-usually in victorian literature, the working class were unimportant characters
tiny tim’s characterisation
-tiny Tim is a minor but significant character as he fulfills important roles within the novella
-dickens uses his character to highlight the transformation of scrooge, which is central to the narrative
-he is a sympathetic embodiment of the suffering of children as well as high infant mortality rates in 1840s (30% of all children died before 5y/o)
-his character allows dickens’ to engage with the reader’s emotions and so catalyse social change
‘bob held his withered little hand in his…dreaded that he might be taken from him’ [stave 3]
metaphor: ‘withered little hand’
↳ connotates to flowers
↳ flower often symbolizes beauty and purity, something beautiful with potential has been ruined by the miserliness of the upper class
↳ dickens thought that children were important as they are the future, therefore dickens shows his disappointment with how victorian society completely ignored children
juxtapositionc: ‘withered little hand’
↳ withered and little are both contrasting, as we may associate them with stages of age, ‘withered’ being old and ‘little’ being young
↳ emphasises on how innocent and young tiny tim is and how wrong it is for him to be shunned by society at such a young age
↳ alludes to how in the victorian era, lower class children were forced to age quickly by working rather than learning and therefore had no opportunities in life, dickens went through this experience himself
dreaded
↳bob isn’t just a blissfully ignorant character, he is aware of the fact that time could die any moment & wants to spend as much time with him as possible, as well as show him as much affection as possible while he is alive
‘bob hugged his daughter to his heart’s consent’ [stave 3]
metaphor: ‘heart’s content’
↳ bob gets his happiness from his family, hence why he was upset at hearing that his daughter wouldn’t be at xmas dinner
↳ family can give you emotional wealth
‘small pudding for a large family’…‘feast’ [stave 3]
juxtaposition: ‘small’ vs ‘large’
↳ emphasises the contrast between the cratchits family and belongings, to show how much they struggle to survive & build empathy for them as we see how hard bob cratchit works, and how kind his is to scrooge, regardless of the
‘I am very happy,’ said little Bob,’ I am very happy.’ [stave 4]
-this is a meditation on human life
-you must celebrate what you loved about a person (‘patient’, ‘mild’), then try and make that persons life important to your future by asking what lesson they taught you
-when bad things continue happening to a family, they must find a way to deal with it
-bob is happy because he has learned a valuable lesson from his son, he tries to make sense of the world in a way that gives this family hope
-bob references a ‘first parting’ showing that he is aware of how precious each moment is for their family
‘spirit of tiny tim, thy childish essence was from God’ [stave 4]
dickens suggests that childhood is extremely valuable, this could be because childhood is where people are shaped into the people they will be in the future
bob cratchit & scrooge
it could be argued that bob cratchit has two main roles to scrooge:
1. to explain why scrooge is hated by those around him
2. to spotlight scrooge’s changed nature to the reader
-in the opening of the novella dickens describes ‘dismal cell’ that bob was made to work in, revealing that despite the cold conditions and small fire he could not “replenish” the coal for fear of being fired (this exemplifies the cruel working conditions that many lower-class workers faced in victorian society but also acts as an example of Scrooge’s inhumanity, epitomising his cruelty)
towards the end of the novel, scrooge’s newfound attitude is highlighted when he instructs bob to “make up the fires”, which contrasts his realist actions
tiny tim & scrooge
-his character is used to highlight scrooge’s developing empathy and signpost the changes in his character
-this is most apparent when the spirit uses his own words against him -scrooge asks about tiny tim’s future but the ghost simply replies that if he was going to die he had
“better do it’ and “decrease the surplus population”
-this prompts Scrooge to hang “his head” which shows his regret
bob cratchit and the theme of poverty
-the plight of the lower class is highlighted through bob’s character
-instead of presenting the Cratchits as ungrateful and lazy, he repeatedly references their contentment and the fact that both bob and martha are working
-dickens does this to challenge the misconceptions of his victorian readers as many would have believed that people lived in poverty because they were lazy
bob cratchit and the theme of family
-dickens highlights the theme of family by showing how much bob values his family, presenting them as an essential part of his xmas celebration
-the family are described as united as dickens details how they all joined in with the preparation of dinner
-this unity is significant as Dickens had a greater agenda when writing the novella
-he intended for it to teach and reform the way xmas was celebrated
-bob is presented as the ideal family figure who valued, loved and respected his family
-he appreciates their efforts and worries when one of them is missing
-in this way, dickens introduces the idea that family should be an essential focus of the festive time
