At a Glance

Ebenezer Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who avoids sentiment and

thinks only of money.

The ghost of Scrooges dead partner Marley visits him. Marley is wearing
chains and is condemned to misery after failing to do anything good for
humankind.

The Ghost of Christmas Past visits Scrooge and takes him on a tour of
Scrooges childhood, reminding him of the sister he loved and those he
has disappointed with his lack of sympathy.

The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the homes of his clerk and
his nephew, where toasts are made to Scrooges health and families
celebrate the season.

After the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge his lonely and
miserable death, Scrooge changes his ways and becomes charitable and
loving.
- Natalie Saaris.

Overview (Literary Essentials: Christian Fiction and Nonfiction)

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Charles Dickenss A Christmas Carol opens with the protagonist, miserly

businessman Ebenezer Scrooge, working late on Christmas Eve in his
London office when his nephew Fred drops by to invite him to Christmas
dinner. Freds Christmas greetingsrepeated annually and annually
declinedsend Scrooge into a rant against the holiday and those who
celebrate it. When Scrooges clerk, Bob Cratchit, quietly applauds Freds
inspirational defense of Christmas, Scrooge threatens to fire him. As Fred
leaves, a pair of gentlemen collecting money for the poor call on Scrooge,
but he quickly dismisses them with the reminder that he already supports
prisons and workhouses for the poor.
At closing time, Scrooge grudgingly gives Cratchit the next day (Christmas
Day) off before heading home to a gloomy structure that once belonged to
his business partner Jacob Marley, who died on Christmas Eve seven years

before. As Scrooge enters, he sees Marleys face on the door knocker. He

rushes inside and goes upstairs to his bedroom, seeing a hearse traveling
up the stairs in front of him. In the bedroom, he locks the doors and sits
down to eat. Suddenly, bells begin to ring, the bedroom door flies open,
and in walks Marleys ghost, bound in a chain made of cash boxes,
padlocks, and ledgers. Marley tells Scrooge that the spirits of men must
walk among their fellow men, if not in life then in death. His chain, he
informs Scrooge, was forged, link by link, over a lifetime of ignoring his
responsibilities to others, and he warns that Scrooge has forged a chain
much more ponderous than the one he, Marley, is carrying. He offers
Scrooge one chance to avoid his fate: to be visited by three spirits that
night. Marley shows Scrooge one last vision, a sky full of phantoms, but
Scrooge concludes that the evening has been a figment of his
imagination, perhaps caused by indigestion, and goes to bed.
At one oclock in the morning, a childlike spirit with a white tunic appears
and introduces itself as the Ghost of Christmas Past. The spirit takes
Scrooge to an institution where he grew up, where they witness Scrooges
boyhood friends going home to celebrate Christmas, leaving the young
Scrooge behind with only imaginary friends from books he has read. The
spirit then takes Scrooge to a happier Christmas, when his sister Fan,
Freds mother, came to the institution to bring Scrooge home. They visit
yet a third Christmas, a party at the warehouse where Scrooge was
apprenticed as a young man. Scrooge reminisces about his kindly boss,
Fezziwig, and how meaningful Fezziwigs generosity had been. The spirit
then transports Scrooge to the Christmas when his fianc, Belle, left him
because of his preoccupation with wealth and business. Scrooge begs the
spirit to take him home, but the spirit shows him one final Christmas
seven years before, when Belles husband tells her he saw Scrooge that
day, all alone and still working, even with Marley at the point of death. At
that, Scrooge returns to his sleep.
When the clock strikes again, Scrooge awakens to find his room decorated
in holly and ivy with a roaring fire in the fireplace. A gigantic spirit wearing
a green robe trimmed in white fur, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes
Scrooge on a tour of dingy, soot-covered neighborhoods where, in spite of
their poverty, residents are celebrating Christmas. Scrooge and the spirit
soon arrive at the Cratchit house, where the family delights in a Christmas
meal far nicer than their usual fare but still quite meager for the large
family. Scrooge is especially moved by the youngest child, Tiny Tim, who
is crippled and will soon die, the spirit tells Scrooge, if nothing changes.
Scrooge hears Bob Cratchit offer a toast in Scrooges name and discovers
the disdain in which the family holds him. The spirit then takes Scrooge on
brief visits to a miners home, a lighthouse, and a ship; in each of these
lonely settings people are celebrating Christmas. Finally, they arrive at
Freds home, where the party guests are discussing Scrooges absence.
Fred explains that Scrooges demeanor brings its own consequences and
expresses his hope that his Christmas invitations may one day soften
Scrooges bitterness. Scrooge, invisible to the partygoers, becomes

absorbed in their party games and has a wonderful time, even though he
is only a spiritual presence and in one of the games a joke is made at his
expense. As they leave, the spirit shows Scrooge a boy and a girl
Ignorance and Wantsheltered beneath his robe and warns Scrooge of
the doom they foretell for humanity.
The clock strikes twelve and Scrooge finds himself in the presence of a
phantom shrouded in black, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. They
watch people discussing a mans death to which they are completely
indifferent, then travel to a seedy neighborhood where men and women
are selling goods stolen from the dead mans house. Scrooge, alarmed at
the cavalier and heartless response to the unknown mans death, asks to
see someone who feels some emotion over the deceased one, so the spirit
takes him to overhear a family hopeful that the mans death will bring a
kinder creditor. Eventually, they go to the Cratchit home and see the
family grieving the death of Tiny Tim. Scrooge inquires about the identity
of the dead man, so the spirit takes Scrooge to a cemetery. There Scrooge
sees his own gravestone. With that, the spirit vanishes.
Scrooge awakens a changed man and begins making amends for his past.
He has a huge turkey sent to the Cratchit house, makes a large donation
to the men who visited him the day before, and calls on Fred to accept his
invitation to dinner. The next day, he raises Bob Cratchits salary.
Eventually, he becomes like a second father to Tiny Tim, and he is
remembered ever after as one who knew how to celebrate Christmas.
More Content: Summary (hide)
1 Critical Survey of Literature for Students
2 Overview
3 Novels for Students (Volume 10)
4 Insights
A Christmas Carol Summary (Critical Survey of Literature for Students)

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Ebenezer Scrooge is a miser. Owner of a successful countinghouse, he will

have in his bleak office only the smallest fire in the most bitter weather.
For his clerk, Bob Cratchit, he allows an even smaller fire. The weather

seldom matters to Scrooge, who is always cold within, never warmeven

on Christmas Eve. As the time approaches for closing the office on
Christmas Eve, Scrooges nephew stops in to wish him a merry Christmas.
Scrooge only sneers, for he abhors sentiment and thinks only of one thing
money. To him, Christmas is a time when people spend more money
than they should and find themselves a year older and no richer.
Grudgingly, Scrooge allows Cratchit to have Christmas Day off; that is the
one concession to the holiday that he makes, but he warns Cratchit to be
at work earlier the day after Christmas. Scrooge leaves his office and goes
home to his rooms in a building in which he is the only tenant. They were
the rooms of Scrooges partner, Jacob Marley, dead for seven years. As he
approaches his door, he sees Marleys face in the knocker. It is a horrible
sight. Marley is looking at Scrooge with his eyes motionless, his ghostly
spectacles on his ghostly forehead. As Scrooge watches, the knocker
resumes its usual form. Shaken by this vision, Scrooge enters the hall and
lights a candle; then he looks behind the door, half expecting to see
Marleys pigtail sticking out into the hall. Satisfied, he double-locks the
door. He prepares for bed and sits for a time before the dying fire.
Suddenly an unused bell hanging in the room begins to ring, as does
every bell in the house.
Then from below comes the sound of heavy chains clanking. The cellar
door flies open, and someone mounts the stairs. Marleys ghost walks
through Scrooges doorMarley, dressed as always, but with a heavy
chain of cash boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses
around his middle.
Marleys ghost sits down to talk to the frightened and bewildered Scrooge.
Forcing Scrooge to admit that he believes what he sees is real, Marley
explains that in life he never did any good for humankind and so in death
he is condemned to constant traveling with no rest and no relief from the
torture of remorse. The ghost says that Scrooge still has a chance to save
himself from Marleys fate. Scrooge will be visited by three spirits who will
show him the way to change. The first spirit will appear the next day at
the stroke of one. The next will arrive on the second night and the last on
the third. Dragging his chain, the ghost disappears.
After Marleys ghost vanishes, Scrooge goes to bed, and in spite of his
nervousness, he falls asleep instantly. When he awakens, it is still dark.
The clock strikes twelve. He waits for the stroke of one. As the sound of
the bell dies away, his bed curtains are pulled apart, and there stands a
figure with a childlike face, but with long, white hair and a strong, wellformed body. The ghost introduces itself as the Ghost of Christmas Past,
Scrooges past. When the ghost invites Scrooge to go on a journey with
him, Scrooge is unable to refuse.
They travel like the wind and stop first at Scrooges birthplace. There
Scrooge sees himself as a boy, neglected by his friends and left alone to

find adventure in books. Next, he sees himself at school, where his sister
comes to take him home for Christmas. Scrooge recalls his love for his
sister, who died young. The ghost reminds him that she bore a son whom
Scrooge neglects. Their next stop is the scene of Scrooges
apprenticeship, where everyone makes merry on Christmas Eve. Traveling
on, they see a young girl weeping as she tells young Scrooge that she
realizes he loves money more than he loves her. The ghost shows him the
same girl, grown older but happy with her husband and children. Then the
ghost returns Scrooge to his room, where he promptly falls asleep again.
When the Ghost of Christmas Present appears, he leads Scrooge through
the city streets on Christmas morning. Their first stop is at the Cratchit
home, where Bob appears with frail, crippled Tiny Tim on his shoulder. In
the Cratchit home, a skimpy meal is a banquet. After dinner, Bob proposes
a toast to Mr. Scrooge, even though it puts a temporary damper on the
holiday gaiety. Then the ghost and Scrooge cross swiftly through the city
where everyone pauses to wish one another a merry Christmas. As they
look in on the home of Scrooges nephew, gaiety prevails, and Scrooge is
tempted to join in the games. There, too, a toast is proposed to Scrooges
health. As the clock begins to strike midnight, the ghost of Christmas
Present fades away.
With the last stroke of twelve, Scrooge sees a black-shrouded phantom
approaching him, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The phantom
extends his hand and forces Scrooge to follow him until they come to a
group of scavengers selling the belongings of the dead. One woman
enters a dead mans room; she takes his bed curtains, bedding, and even
the shirt in which he is to be buried. Scrooge sees a dead man with his
face covered, but he refuses to lift the covering. Revisiting the Cratchits,
he learns that Tiny Tim died.
After seeing his old countinghouse and his own neglected grave, Scrooge
realizes that it was he who lay on the bed in the cold, stripped room with
no one to mourn his death. Scrooge begs the spirit that it should not be
so, vowing that he will change, that he will forever honor Christmas in his
heart. He makes a desperate grasp for the phantoms hand and realizes
that the ghost has shriveled away and dwindled into a bedpost. Scrooge
bounds out of bed and thanks Jacob Marleys ghost for his chance to make
amends. Dashing into the street, he realizes that it is Christmas Day. His
first act is to order the largest turkey available to be sent anonymously to
the Cratchits. The day before, Scrooge ordered a man from his
countinghouse for asking a contribution; now Scrooge gives him a large
sum of money for the poor. Then he astounds his nephew by arriving at
his house for Christmas dinner and by making himself the life of the party.
Scrooge never reverts to his old ways. He raises Bobs salary, improves
conditions in his office, contributes generously to all charities, and
becomes a second father to Tiny Tim. It is said of him thereafter that he
truly knows how to keep Christmas well.