A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens that tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge a miserly cold-hearted old man who despises Christmas and is indifferent to the needs of others. Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley who warns him that he will face eternal torment unless he changes his ways. Marley tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three spirits over the course of the night. The first spirit the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge scenes from his own life including his childhood early adulthood and the loss of his fiancée due to his obsession with money. The second spirit the Ghost of Christmas Present reveals the joy and warmth of Christmas as experienced by others including Scrooge’s underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit and his ill son Tiny Tim. The third spirit the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge a grim future where he is unloved and forgotten and Tiny Tim dies due to the Cratchit family’s financial struggles.