Saturday 27 August 2016

Scrooge asks the spirit to show him tenderness connected to a death. What does the spirit show him?

After the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge the scene with the thieves who have callously stolen possessions from the dead man's home, even including the shirt he was laid out in (!!), he asks to be shown someone who feels some emotion as a result of this death.  The spirit then shows him a young couple who feels relieved, even happy, that the man has died because it means that they will...

After the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge the scene with the thieves who have callously stolen possessions from the dead man's home, even including the shirt he was laid out in (!!), he asks to be shown someone who feels some emotion as a result of this death.  The spirit then shows him a young couple who feels relieved, even happy, that the man has died because it means that they will have longer to repay the loan they received from him, a loan which they knew he would never extend.  Thus, from a scene of dispassion, to a scene of relative happiness, Scrooge asks for tenderness connected with any death, and the spirit shows him the Crachit family after Tiny Tim dies. 


The sight of the Crachits mourning Tim really contrasts with what Scrooge saw before: here's this small child who's lived a relatively short amount of time, and he's had such a major effect on his family -- he is loved for his goodness and his generosity of spirit.  As opposed to Tiny Tim, however, the first man lived a relatively long life and it seems that the only happiness he's brought anyone is in his death.  The juxtaposition of these three scenes throws the worthlessness of Scrooge's own life thus far into sharp relief.

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