The Importance Of Death In A Christmas Carol

“Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim” says Vicki Harrison, the author of Dressed to Thrill. Learning to swim is something that almost anyone can accomplish. Much like swimming in the ocean, no matter how overwhelming it can become, everyone can learn to cope with their grief. For the main character in A Christmas Carol, however, he strives to take on his grief without learning to swim. Throughout the story, three ghosts visit Ebenezer Scrooge and help him realize that he needs to change how he acts toward other people. The Ghost of Christmas Past shows the readers that Scrooge has lost three women, whether it was by death …show more content…
After losing the women in his life that make him happy, Scrooge becomes depressed and lonely. Scrooge begins his childhood without a mother figure because she died shortly after his mother gave birth to him. His mother is the first of three women that Scrooge lives the rest of his life without. Without a mother around, his father tends to treat him horribly. Scrooge’s father believes that he is the reason that his mom died. His mom died while giving birth to Scrooge and throughout his life, he agrees with his father and assumes that he caused her death. Considering he believes this for essentially his entire life, he allows his father to be rude to him. His father sends him to an overly strict boarding school and appears to treat Fan, Scrooge’s sister, better than him (Roberts). As Fan comes to pick Scrooge up from school in order to bring him home, she tells him that “[he] is so much kinder than he used to be” (Dickens n.pag.). Fan is implying that her father has been angry for most of their lives until now. Now that he has become nicer, he is allowing Scrooge to come home for Christmas. Scrooge’s father is …show more content…
The Ghost of Christmas Past describes Fan as a “delicate creature, whom a breath might have withered…but she had a large heart” (Dickens n.pag). The spirit is explaining to Scrooge that Fan is pure and delicate. She never fails to lift Scrooge’s spirits and “had a heart of gold” (Holden). Fan is always kind to everyone and makes Scrooge feel loved when he does not have a mother or a father to love him. One day Fan comes up to Scrooge and starts kissing and addressing him as “dear brother” (Dickens, n.pag.). This is when she is telling him that he will finally be able to come home for Christmas. Fan becomes ecstatic that her brother will have the opportunity to come home. This particular scene of Fan makes Scrooge happy both as a child and while he is reliving it with the ghost. Without Fan in his life, he no longer has anyone to help him be content. After her death, Scrooge turns his grief and anger towards anything that reminds him of her. This includes Fan’s son, Fred. In Stave I, Fred wishes Scrooge a Merry Christmas and Scrooge tells him that he has no reason to be merry because “he’s poor enough” (Dickens n.pag.). Scrooge constantly treats Fred poorly and fails to let go of his sister’s passing, even when Fred is nice to him. Fan’s passing causes Scrooge to be cruel to Fred because he no longer has her lighting up his