Ebenezer Scrooge. In the story A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is an English businessman who thinks about

nothing but money. He has no friends and spends no time with his family. He lives alone, eats alone,

and works alone, except for his underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit. Scrooge never spends his money,

but hoards it all and prides himself on his frugality. Scrooge hates Christmas. It's all

nonsense to him. People spend money on food and gifts and parties. Often they can't afford what

they spend. Worse than that, they take a whole day off work and so lose a chance to make more

money. Scrooge is angry that he has to give his clerk the day off with pay. He feels that he's

being robbed. Christmas is also a time when people are asked to give money to help the poor.

Scrooge is angry when two men come to his door asking for donations. Scrooge argues that he pays

taxes, which support prisons and workhouses. It is not his business to worry about the

problems of other people. Scrooge represents businessmen who see the bottom line as all

that matters. Scrooge's partner, Marley, had died seven years earlier. He was like

Scrooge in all respects. That evening, which is Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by Marley's

ghost. Marley drags steel chains round about him, which contain keys, cash boxes, ledgers,

purses, and deeds. These are the things that Marley cared about when he was alive.

Marley is condemned in death to wander the world and tell Scrooge that the same fate is likely to

happen to him. However, three spirits will visit Scrooge, and if Scrooge listens to them,

he may escape this fate. The first spirit comes and takes Scrooge back to the early scenes of

his own life. He sees himself being left behind at school while the other boys went home for the

holidays. Then his little sister arrives to tell him he could go home too. Another scene was of a

cheerful Christmas party when Scrooge was a young man. A third scene showed him with the girl he was

planning to marry. She left him because he no longer cared about anything but money. The second

spirit shows Scrooge what people are doing that very Christmas. He shows Scrooge the preparations

that people, even poor people, are making to celebrate Christmas. They visit Bob Cratchit's

tiny home. There, they see the family cooking their little Christmas dinner. Bob's son,

Tiny Tim, has been weakened by disease and has to use a crutch to walk. The family is

delighted with its meal, small as it is. They see other scenes of poor people, miners and

sailors, celebrating Christmas. Finally, they visit Scrooge's nephew and view his Christmas

party and its games. The third spirit was the spirit of Christmas yet to come, the future.

This spirit does not talk, but points to scenes connected with Scrooge.

They overhear some businessman joking about someone who has recently died.

Scrooge sees that he no longer occupies his usual place of business.

The spirit then shows him two women who have stolen the bedclothes, curtains, and clothes off the dead man and taken them to a pawnbroker.

The spirit takes Scrooge to the room where the dead man died.

The only people who are happy about the death are a young couple who owed him money.

The spirit then shows Scrooge the Cratchit's house, where they're mourning the death of Tiny Tim.

Finally, the spirit takes him to a churchyard, where they stand among the graves.

Then the spirit points to the name of the dead man on the tombstone, Ebenezer Scrooge.

Scrooge is going to die, and no one will care.

Scrooge finds himself in his own bed on Christmas morning.

He is resolved now to avoid the fate that the spirits had shown him.

He is delighted that he's getting a second chance.

Scrooge decides to surprise all his acquaintances,

and he begins by buying a huge goose and sending it to the Cratchits.

On his walk, he meets the two men collecting for the poor

and offers them a large sum of money.

He goes on to join his nephew at a Christmas party.

The next day, when Bob Cratchit comes into work,

Scrooge gives him a raise in his salary.

He also takes care of tiny Tim so that Tim recovers his health.

Charles Dickens' story was written at a time

when governments did very little to help the poor.

Wages were very low, and many businessmen were unwilling to look after their workers properly.

Dickens points out that people like Scrooge not only make other people unhappy,

but also are usually unhappy themselves.

It is possible to be a very rich businessman and a poor human being at the same time.