Tiny Tim Character Analysis Flashcards
Tiny Tim description/personality
The fragile,frail and ill child of Bob Cratchit
How does Dickens use Tiny Tim to demonstrate societal problems?
Dickens uses Tiny Tim to demonstrate the plight of the weakest members of society. Middle and upper-class Victorian readers would have been very moved by the thought of a small, frail, vulnerable boy.
Tiny Tim affect on Scrooge’s redemption
Tiny Tim is arguably the catalyst for the change in Scrooge. For the first time, Scrooge is ‘overcome with penitence’ after learning of Tiny Tim’s plight and grim future.
How does dickens use Tiny Tim to deliver a religious message?
He also serves as an allusion to Jesus’ interactions with children. These appear throughout
the gospels and give an unambiguous message of the importance of children: …unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven…And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.’ (Matthew 18:1-5)
Why is Tiny Tim carried on Bob’s shoulder?
It is an image used by Dickens to symbolise the way the families carried and worked with one another with little or no support from the state.
What privilege of wealth does Tiny Tim show?
The levels of child mortality are still highest amongst the poorest communities
Quotations to show Tiny Tim’s fragility and frailty
Tiny Tim bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame. (S3)
Tiny Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, beat on the table with the handle of his knife, and feebly cried Hurrah! (S3)
He [Tim] hoped the people saw him in church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.’ (S3)
Quotations to show Scrooge’s care for Tiny Tim and what makes him change
‘Spirit, tell me if Tiny Tim will live.’ (Scrooge, S3)
‘If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.’ (Ghost of Christmas Present, S3)
