In this deck, we will explore the Cratchit family from Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol'. We'll focus on Bob Cratchit and his son, Tiny Tim, analysing how Dickens uses them to challenge Victorian attitudes to poverty and to highlight the importance of family, compassion, and hope.

Bob Cratchit is Scrooge's overworked and underpaid clerk. Despite his poverty and the cold, miserable conditions Scrooge forces him to work in, Bob remains a kind, patient, and loyal employee. Dickens presents him as the head of a loving family, struggling to survive on a meagre fifteen shillings a week.

Dickens uses the Cratchit family to represent the 'deserving poor'. This was an important idea in Victorian England. It challenged the common belief, supported by ideas like Malthusian theory, that the poor were lazy and responsible for their own suffering. The Cratchits are hardworking, loving, and pious, showing the reader that poverty is not a moral failing.

The Cratchit family acts as a foil to Scrooge. A foil is a character that contrasts with another character to highlight particular qualities. The Cratchits' warmth, love, and festive cheer, despite their poverty, stand in stark contrast to Scrooge's wealthy, miserable isolation. This contrast helps to emphasise the true meaning of wealth and happiness.