In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, many of his characters were children. All of the children were different from one another but were all related to Ebenezer Scrooge’s past, present, or future life. They helped Scrooge better understand and transform his character and attitude towards Christmas and other people.
In the end of Stave Three when the Spirit of Christmas Present comes to visit Scrooge, two young children appear beneath the robe of the Spirit. Scrooge’s attention is brought to them when he looks down and asked the Spirit “I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself…Is it a foot or a claw?” (Dickens 107) The Spirit then goes on to reveal the two hideous, yellow, meager, and ragged boy and girl to which Scrooge was appalled by. He related them to monster’s, devils, and was quite frightened by their appearance. The Spirit introduced the children as Ignorance and Want, both belonging to man. The Spirit also warned Scrooge to beware of Ignorance because Doom is bound to be with it. Both Ignorance with Doom and Want were characteristics associated to Scrooge’s life at that present time. Those desires were running his life and making him an unkind and heartless person. Scrooge eventually realized the ugliness of the two desires and reverts them by becoming less selfish through his actions of giving.
Scrooge as a child is brought into the story when the Spirit of Christmas Past appears to him in the Second Stave. The former memory begins with a young boy, Scrooge, sitting by himself in a classroom reading a book. This boy was lonely, forgotten, and either didn’t know or want to join the other boys outside playing. Later on the Spirit shows Scrooge the memory at boarding school when his younger sister Fan comes to take him home for Christmas. All the other boys had already left the school for the holiday, leaving Scrooge again by himself lonely and forgotten. Scrooge weeps for himself when he sees and relives these