Family

During the opening of the book it's made clear that Scrooge rejects his family - the first action of the story is him turning down Fred's invitation to dinner, in a way that any reader would see as being just plain rude. Fred, however, remains cheery and insists that he will invite him again every year - because that's what families do!

The most telling moment though comes when The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back to his school, where he has been forced to spend Christmases alone. We're unsure as to why until his sister returns and says something very loaded: "Father is so much kinder than he used to be! He spoke so gently to me one dear night when I was going to bed, that I was not afraid to ask him once more if you could come home."

Though the line itself isn't much, it does suggest that Scrooge's father wasn't exactly a model parent. A recent BBC adaptation positioned the father as being downright abusive and levelled the entire blame for Scrooge's personality on his doorstep. While this might be a bit far, Dickens makes it very clear that Scrooge's father was, at least, someone his children were afraid of. Scrooge has possibly argued with him and been almost banished to this boarding school where he was raised.

The details of Scrooge's relationship to his family isn't really explored in any depth - we don't know where Fan went to, and there is no mention of his mother - but it does seem that Dickens wanted to make one thing clear: Scrooge was pushed away by his father, and it's quite probable that this rejection would have led Scrooge to reject the idea of family in return.

The three ghosts each present a number of different visions of happy families, but it's worth focusing on three in particular:

With the Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge sees the emotional moment when he breaks up with his former love, Belle. Though the breakup itself is upsetting enough, the spirit doesn't stop there and it takes him to see Belle and the happy family she's created with her husband. In a long piece of description, Dickens really brings the thrill of the new family to life and it is this vision that finally breaks Scrooge and leads him to snuff out the past. The scene itself is like one of those "this is what you could have won" moments, and it's clear that Scrooge regrets what he did.

Though The Ghost of Christmas Present also takes Scrooge to see the Cratchits, it's worth focusing on Fred from this stave. Throughout the party, Scrooge's nephew continually defends his miserly uncle - much to the disapproval of the other guests and even his wife! Fred's insistence that he will continue to invite Scrooge along is based around the fact that he "pities" him. This could suggest that, being family, Fred understands better than the rest why Scrooge has ended up this way. Mainly, though, Dickens is presenting a family that won't give up on each other, and it is this dedication to togetherness that sums up so much of what the book is really about. We should support other people, even - and perhaps especially - the worst ones amongst us.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come takes Scrooge back to the Cratchits, though it is a very different house to the one he'd seen before. Tiny Tim is dead, and the family grieve. In many ways, Tim almost represents the Cratchits: good natured, compassionate, determined, but disabled by disease or social class, and left desperately vulnerable. Given all that Scrooge has come to learn about the importance of family and the relative uselessness of money it is no surprise that he determines to ensure that Tim gets the treatment he needs as soon as possible.

In the final Stave, Scrooge determines to be different. Most tellingly on the theme of family, he becomes a "second father" to Tiny Tim. In this way Dickens shows how neither class, education, situation or circumstance can stop us from becoming at one with each other; a part of the same family. It's also a key line that just reminds us of Scrooge's relationship with his own father, as we are quite sure Scrooge will do a better job than his own father did.

In the final stave, Scrooge also visits Fred's house for the Christmas party he's been avoiding for so many years. Though we don't spend long inside there with him, we can take it that Scrooge was welcomed with open arms by a family that were happy to bring him back into the fold.

Because, for Dickens, a family was something that always welcomed you back - no matter how bad you'd been - and always supported you - even if you were too weak to support yourself - because, as "Tiny Tim observed: God bless us, everyone!"