Full Answer
What does Bob Cratchit do for Scrooge?
Bob Cratchit is Scrooge's clerk and works in unpleasant conditions without complaint. He obeys Scrooge's rules and is timid about asking to go home to his family early on Christmas Eve.
What does Bob Cratchit symbolize in a Christmas Carol?
He is also a symbol of forgiveness – he toasts to Scrooge, despite his horrible work conditions, and in the face of Scrooge’s eventual remorse, is open and accepting rather than bitter. The A Christmas Carol quotes below are all either spoken by Bob Cratchit or refer to Bob Cratchit.
What happened to Bob Cratchit inside the office?
Inside the office, Scrooge watches over his clerk, a poor diminutive man named Bob Cratchit. The smoldering ashes in the fireplace provide little heat even for Bob's tiny room. Despite the harsh weather Scrooge refuses to pay for another lump of coal to warm the office.
How is Fred described in a Christmas Carol stave 1?
A Christmas Carol Stave 1 Summary & Analysis. Fred is the opposite of Scrooge in appearance and spirit. Whereas Scrooge is described as “hard and sharp”, Fred’s features are round and healthy. Though Fred is poor (though not as poor as Cratchit), his attire is colorful and he is generous and sociable with his Christmas provisions.
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How is Bob presented in Stave 1?
The fact Bob is described by the adjective 'slower' contrasts with the earlier description of him liking to 'pelt' home quickly in Stave 1. Again Dickens could be using this as a metaphor to show how the lives of the working classes are hampered by the neglect of the upper classes.
Who is Bob Cratchit in Stave 1?
Bob Cratchit is a poor man with a large family in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. His employer, Ebenezer Scrooge, does not care about Cratchit or his desire to celebrate Christmas with his family. Cratchit works in a cold office with only one coal for heat, and Scrooge watches Cratchit's every move in the office.
How is Bob Cratchit described?
Bob Cratchit is Scrooge's clerk and works in unpleasant conditions without complaint. He obeys Scrooge's rules and is timid about asking to go home to his family early on Christmas Eve.
How is Bob Cratchit presented in the play?
Bob is presented as the ideal family figure who valued, loved and respected his family. He appreciates their efforts (calling the meal “the greatest success achieved by Mrs Cratchit since their marriage”) and worries when one of them is missing.
What is Bob Cratchits purpose?
Bob is Scrooge's clerk and represents the lower classes. He has to accept poor wages and working conditions because he has a family to support, and a badly-paid job is better than no job.
What does Bob Cratchit symbolize?
The abused, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge (and possibly Jacob Marley, when he was alive), Cratchit has come to symbolize the poor working conditions, especially long working hours and low pay, endured by many working-class people in the early Victorian era.
How does Bob describe Tiny Tim's Behaviour in church?
Cratchit is pleased with Tiny Tim's behavior at church. Then Bob reveals that Tiny Tim ''hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.
Is Bob Cratchit Scrooge's brother?
Character information Bob Cratchit is Ebenezer Scrooge's underpaid clerk in the classic story A Christmas Carol. Although a central figure of the tale, his passive character is overshadowed by that of Ebenezer Scrooge. Cratchit is Scrooge's employee, a low-paid clerk with a large family.
Is Bob Cratchit a main character?
Bob Cratchit is the minor character of the carol. He symbolizes one of the important themes embodied in the story of Dickens, which is the image of the lives of the poor, in particular, the inhabitants of the cities suffering from cold and hunger.
What does Cratchit say to Scrooge?
He proposes a toast to Scrooge even on Christmas Day. "I'll give you Mr. Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast!". Scrooge is too miserly to offer his clerk a decent wage, but Cratchit is generous enough to be grateful to his boss. He cries openly when his son Tiny Tim is dead.
Who is Bob's boss?
Bob takes orders from his bad-tempered boss, Ebenezer Scrooge without complaining. [he] tried to warm himself at the candle. His efforts to warm himself at the candle are pitiful. He would prefer to do this than challenge Scrooge. Generous. He proposes a toast to Scrooge even on Christmas Day.
Who is Bob in A Christmas Carol?
Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol. Bob Cratchit is Scrooge's clerk and works in unpleasant conditions without complaint. He obeys Scrooge's rules and is timid about asking to go home to his family early on Christmas Eve. When the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to visit the Cratchits on Christmas Day, he sees Bob Cratchit carrying his ...
Why does Scrooge turn to Bob Cratchit?
At closing time, Scrooge turns to Bob Cratchit and taunts him for wanting the day off for Christmas day. He doesn’t understand why he should pay a day’s wages for no work, but he lets Cratchit leave on the condition that he will arrive early on Boxing Day.
What is the stave 1 in A Christmas Carol?
A Christmas Carol: Stave 1. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Christmas Carol, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. The narrator states that there was no doubt about Marley ’s death. Scrooge, Marley’s business partner, signed the register of his burial.
What does the narrator describe Scrooge as?
The narrator describes Scrooge as “Hard and sharp as flint.”. His appearance matches his character, with cold-looking, pointy features. He keeps his office cold, not even heating it at Christmas time. Consequently, everybody who comes into contact with Scrooge avoids him.
What does Scrooge wish Cratchit?
Fred leaves kindly and on his way out wishes Cratchit a Merry Christmas. Scrooge mutters that Cratchit, with a wife and family and nothing to live on, can’t possibly be merry. Despite Scrooge's ill temper Fred generously and authentically invites him over. Scrooge could have family, if only he would allow himself to.
What is the difference between Scrooge and Cratchit?
In contrast, Scrooge’s routine is deliberately isolated and miserable. His stash of money could afford him a rich, luxurious Christmas but he avoids these traditions.
What does Scrooge tell Fred to leave him alone?
Fred responds that though it hasn’t brought him any profit, Christmas has done him good. Apart from its sacred meaning, it is a time for goodness and charity.
What did Bob Cratchit say about Mrs. Cratchit?
Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs Cratchit since their marriage. ] Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody said or thought it. was at all a small pudding for a large family. It would have been flat heresy to do so.
What does stave 1 mean?
Scrooge has a small fire, but his clerk, Bob Cratchit, who works in a little cell attached to Scrooge’s office, barely has a coal... (full context) ...him good. Apart from its sacred meaning, it is a time for goodness and charity.
Why does Scrooge taunt Bob?
At closing time, Scrooge turns to Bob Cratchit and taunts him for wanting the day off for Christmas day. He doesn’t understand... (full context) Stave 3. ...magic ability to fit into any space, despite his giant size, and as they enter Bob Cratchit ’s tiny lodgings, this is especially wondrous.
What does Bob tell his family about Scrooge's nephew?
His family help him to tea and his children gather... (full context) Bob then tells his family of the beautiful kindness of Scrooge’s nephew, whom he met in... (full context) Stave 5. The next day, Scrooge goes to the office, in the hope of catching Bob Cratchit coming in late.
What is Bob's role in Christmas?
Bob is a prime example of the virtues of Christmas and provides the antidote to Scrooge. He is also a symbol of forgiveness – he toasts to Scrooge, despite his horrible work conditions, and in the face of Scrooge’s eventual remorse, is open and accepting rather than bitter.
Who said Scrooge's name in a toast?
She brings back the flaming round pudding and they... (full context) Just then, Scrooge jumps— Bob Cratchit has said Scrooge's name, in a toast. Mrs. Cratchit says she doesn’t understand how... (full context) They talk about employment, and Mr. Cratchit says that Scrooge might have work for Peter, the eldest.
Where does the ghost of Christmas yet to come take him?
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come takes him to Bob Cratchit ’s house, where the Cratchit s are unusually silent, waiting for Bob to come home. Mrs.... (full context) At that moment, Bob enters, wrapped in his blanket.
What does Bob hold in his hand?
Bob held his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, and wished to keep him by his side and dreaded that he might be taken from him. Scrooge describes the scene within the Cratchit house that he sees while with the Ghost of Christmas Present.
Why does Bob stop at the outer door?
Bob suffers in silence for his family’s sake. He stopped at the outer door to bestow the greetings of the season on the clerk, who, cold as he was, was warmer than Scrooge, for he returned them cordially. “There’s another fellow,” mustered Scrooge, who overheard him; “my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, ...
What does the narrator say about Scrooge's office?
The narrator describes the scene in Scrooge’s office where Scrooge rations the live coals needed to heat the place during winter. Scrooge relegates his clerk Bob Cratchit to a minimal fire, expecting Cratchit to work while cold. Bob knows that if he replenishes his fire, Scrooge will threaten to terminate his job.
Is Bob a good father?
Although a good and mature man and father, Bob possesses a childlike appreciation of innocent fun—which may be, in part, why he is such a good father. He sat very close to his father’s side, upon his little stool.
Summary
On a frigid, foggy Christmas Eve in London, a shrewd, mean-spirited cheapskate named Ebenezer Scrooge works meticulously in his counting-house. Outside the office creaks a little sign reading "Scrooge and Marley"--Jacob Marley, Scrooge's business partner, has died seven years previous.
Commentary
The opening Stave of A Christmas Carol sets the mood, describes the setting, and introduces many of the principal characters. It also establishes the novel's allegorical structure. (Allegory, a type of narrative in which characters and events represent particular ideas or themes, relies heavily on symbolism.
