A Christmas Carol Essay

Could someone please mark my essay on 'A Christmas Carol' Please Its not fully completed
Starting with this extract, how does dickens present the importance of family?
In the allegorical novella” A Christmas carol” Dickens presents the importance of family through the Cratchits and their influence on Scrooge’s redemption. As scrooge’s misanthropic and isolated behaviour stems from his relationship with his own father. Dickens uses scrooge’s redemption to attack the Malthusianism theory that all the poor should be eradicated in order to decrease food shortages during this time and teaches his readers to think of the poor as an extension of their own family and become the best versions of themselves by being generous and kind. As the play was set during Christmas which carries the Christian message to give to the poor and take responsibility for others.
Dickens uses the Cratchit family as a driving force for Scrooge’s redemption as even though they are poor they still find the best in what they have. This is shown through the clothes that they wear. As Mrs Cratchit had “dressed out poorly in a twice turned gown, but brave in ribbons”. This implies that they don’t have new cloths so they have to work with what they have. Contrasting this, Mrs Cratchit is still” brave in ribbons” suggesting that she doesn’t let the poverty of her family change her happiness on Christmas. The word ‘brave’ has connotations of resilience and pride which shows that Mrs Cratchit is a strong women who keeps her family alive even in the debts of poverty. Despite having to wear the same gown she decorates it with the ribbons demonstrating her ability to make the most with what she has which shows her festive spirit. Not only does Mrs Cratchit wear brave ribbons, but so does her daughter signifying they all are filled with the Christmas spirit and contempt with what they are given. Dickens uses this to prove scrooge wrong when he talked with Fred about the poor being unable to be happy without money. The Cratchit family forces Scrooge to realise how alone and miserable he his and drives him to his enlightenment. Dickens not only shows scrooge this but also his readers that being isolated but rich will lead to unhappiness and misery. He wants his readers to understand that happiness is found with others especially during Christmas as it’s a time of being charitable and finding joy in what you have and sharing it with others.
Through the ghost of Christmas past we see the younger version of scrooge and how his relationship with his father stemmed his ignorance and heartlessness. As young scrooge is described as ‘a solitary child abandoned by his father’ Suggesting he was never loved by his father, the word ‘Solitary’ connotes how scrooge had felt alone all his life which created the fear of abandonment which could have ruined all his relationships. This could imply that his father was emotionally distant which caused Scrooge to hide his feeling and now affects him as he is unable to express his feeling to others and would rather buri them deep underneath his work. Not only this but Scrooge is described as ‘solitary’ as he feels being vulnerable to others could have them leave him which causes him to push everyone away. Since scrooge was emotionally abandoned by his father it makes the readers understand him and feel sympathetic for him as no one could change him even though he had Fezziwig, Fan, Bell, Fred and the Cratchits to guide him showing how important the relations with family is. Not only was Scrooge abandoned by his father but also his mother as she was never mentioned in the novella. He could also feel abandoned by his sister Fan as she was the only one who cared for him but passed away after giving birth, leaving him alone in his callus world. This could also be another reason why Scrooge’s relations broke down as his fear of abandonment was too strong. Through his relationship with Bell, we see how he unconsciously abandons others and pushes them away as “another idol has replaced me, a golden one”. This shows how scrooge focused on his golden idol instead of his relationship which left him all alone reintroducing his fear of abandonment, Dickens uses this to send a social message to the middle-class employers as they were the ones who could afford the novel, that they must take care of their families and show them warmth if they want their children to grow up happily or they may end up pushing people away like Scrooge. This shows the importance of family and how being emotionally unavailable could affect a child unconsciously all their life.