English Literature: A Christmas Carol - Theme of Family - Revision Cards in GCSE English Literature

Dickens highlights the importance of family

Family is shown to be a source of comfort, strength and joy throughout the text.
Several examples of this can be found in the visions shown to Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Present - children "running out into the snow" to greet "sisters, brothers, cousins, uncles, aunts", the "cheerful company" of a miner's family and a companionable group of sailors, each one comforting himself with thoughts of "those he cared for".
The Cratchit family are symbolic of a perfect family. They're very close, and they enjoy affectionately teasing and talking with each other. They're also supportive and loyal - they unite in grief over Tiny Tim's death.
In the middle of the 19th century, large families were very common. Many families had five or six chilren - the Cratchits had six.
Dickens emphasises that there's nothing special about the Cratchits - "nothing of high mark" - but their family love strengthens them and makes them happy.

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Throughout ACC, Dickens links the theme of family with the idea of happiness. For example, Fred's family are shown having fun together as they celebrate Christmas. Fred's laughter is "irresistibly contagious". His wife "laughed as heartily as he" and their friends "roared out, lustily".
Scrooge is also shown a vision of Belle's boisterous and playful family. Belle and her daughter laugh "heartily" at the turmoil caused by the younger children, and Dickens says the family is full of "joy, and gratitude, and ecstasy".

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In contrast to the other main characters, Scrooge doesn't see the virtue in family life. Every year he dismisses Fred's invitation to dine with his family in favour of solitude.
When Fred tells Scrooge that he married because he fell in love, Scrooge laughs at him and says that love is the "one thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas".
Scrooge can only think about the financial burden that family brings. He wonders how Bob Cratchit can feel "merry" at Christmas when he has to support his whole family with his low wage - "my clerk, with fifteen shillings-a-week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas". Similarly, his reaction to the Ghost of Christmas Present's 1800 brothers is to mutter that it's "a tremendous family to provide for".

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In his youth, Scrooge was "a solitary child, neglected by his friends". He weeps when he's shown a vision of himself "alone again" in the "long, bare, melancholy" schoolroom. Scrooge had to create companionship for himself out of the characters in his books to replace his own absent family.
Dickens suggests Scrooge had a close relationship with his sister Fan. Her death would have affected him greatly and increased his isolation.
This scene foreshadows Scrooge's solitary life later on, after his failure to create a family with Belle. This episode with Belle appears to be a turning point for Scrooge - he stops caring about other people and becomes even more obsessed with money. Scrooge argues that his fixation on money is due to him becoming "wiser", but it's the cause of his loneliness.
In Satve Four, Scrooge sees the result of his rejection of family and the isolation this brings him. After Scrooge's death, one of the thieves says that if the "wicked old screw" had been more "natural" in life, he might have had someone to look after him in death. Scrooge's selfishness means he has no-one to take care of him after he dies.
Scrooge's corpse is left "plundered and bereft, unwatched, uncared for." This contrasts with the tears the Cratchit family shed over the death of Tiny Tim.

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When Scrooge was a child, he was rescued from his isolation when his father change and became kinder. When Fan collects Scrooge, she says that the family home is "like Heaven".
Without a family of his own, Scrooge can't be saved from loneliness in the "haggard winder of his life." He regrests that he missed his chance to have a family with Belle and will now never have a child call him father.
However, at the end, Scrooge becomes a part of two families. He becomes a "second father" to Tiny Tim and endeavours to help the struggling Cratchits. He also embraces his relationship with Fred and visits him on Christmas day.
Queen Victoria and Albert had nine children. Victoria's family was presented as a loving, happy model family to her subjects.
In Stave One, Marley is presented as the nearest thing to family that Scrooge has - especially since Scrooge chooses not to be part of Fred's family. Scrooge answers to both his name and his partner's, and Marley passes down his rooms to Scrooge like a family heriloom. As a ghost, Marley shows a deep interest in Scrooge - he's watched over him for years - and it's appropriate that helps to bring about Scrooge's redemption.

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