Here he sees how the Cratchits, despite being very poor, can be happy at Christmas. Bob and Mrs Cratchits struggle because their family is large: there are six children, (Martha, Belinda, Peter two unnamed young Cratchits and Tiny-Tim) Scrooge sees how frail Tiny-Tim is and asks the spirit if he will live. The ghost tells him “” When Scrooge protests he is reminded of his words earlier, “If he be likely to die he had better do it and decrease the surplus population. I think Dickens has included this harsh remark to remind the readers how horrible some people are and how they should try and help others.

The ghost takes Scrooge magically to places outside London: he sees a family of miners in a hut on a baron moor, two lighthouse keepers and sailors on a ship: all know what day it is and celebrate it as far as they can. All of them are made more aware of other people and feel more kindly towards because it is Christmas. One reason I think Dickens does this is because importance of Christmas was in decline and he wanted to make known tat Christmas could be celebrated anywhere and by anyone as well as the min meaning of Christmas which I interpret to be loving and sharing.

Fred is having a party, and Scrooge is bought by the spirit to see and hear it. Scrooge’s nephew explains that Scrooge is to be pitied not despised. He is rich but his money does him no good and as Fred says, “His offences carry their own punishment. ” I think Dickens uses this phrase to tell people that the sins you commit in life may not have an immediate consequence but will always be punished in after or life. The guests play a guessing game, the find the identity of a thing, in which questions can only be answered yes or no.

Everyone is amused when Fred’s sister-in-law guesses that the mystery object is Scrooge. The chapter has a strange ending. The spirit ages and shrinks as midnight draws near (because he lives for and represents one year only – he has more than eighteen hundred brothers. ) Now Scrooges sees, under its robe, to horribly dirty and ugly children. The ghost tells him that they are not his but “mans” and that “this boy is ignorance, this girl is want. ” Scrooge is told to beware of them both. When he asks if nothing can be done to help them the ghost again quotes his earlier words “are there no prisons?

Are there no work houses? ” he feels deep shame as the ghost disappears, and he sees, coming towards him the last of the three spirits. I think Dickens includes these children to make the readers aware of the poverty some children have to live with in London. This is of great importance to him as it was one of the main inspirations for his novella in the first place. This ghost’s purpose is mainly to open Scrooges eyes to the world around him at Christmas and the kindness in everyone’s hearts.

I believe he does this very successfully as after this ghost leaves Scrooge is very happy to see the last spirit. I do believe that Dickens was a great writer and to say that any of the spirits were not influential on Scrooge would be wrong. But if I had to pick one I would say the most powerful ghost must be the ghost of Christmas present. This is because the ghost shows him many important aspects of Christmas, including his family and how they celebrate Christmas together.

He shows Scrooge that being rich is not everything; he does this by taking Scrooge to the poor Cratchits house who are having a very wonderful Christmas. The spirit shows scrooge how to enjoy himself and that living like he does is not pleasant or rewarding. The other two spirits are also very effective in their own ways; the ghost of Christmas past takes Scrooge back to his childhood days and makes Scrooge regret what he missed out on as a child and also makes him realise that people were trying to encourage him not to be like he was at that early age.

The spirit of Christmas still to come is a very sinister spirit there mainly to scare Scrooge into changing his ways, he does this by showing Scrooge what will happen to him if he does not change. He shows Scrooge a dead body which Scrooge realises is his own and he sees that his death does not sadden anyone; this in turn creates fear in Scrooges mind. The audience will of course relate to this as most peoples worst fear is people not missing them when they die, this causes people to look at themselves and change for the better.

The spirits all have there own affect on Scrooge, the spirit of Christmas past makes Scrooge regret that past, the spirit of Christmas present makes Scrooge realise the importance of Christmas and how to celebrate it blissfully, and finally the spirit of Christmas still to come makes sure Scrooge is too scared to revert back to his old ways. The main lesson learnt by Scrooge is that he should be nice to everyone no matter what day it is, people that are less well off than him need his help.

Other lessons that he learns are that being heartless, selfish and greedy has no rewards and that no one will be there to mourn you death. Also that he should enjoy his money and share with others because money will control you head and leave your heart in the shadows as Scrooge’s was for so long. I believe that the novella is still popular in today’s times as it brings to light all the joys and happiness that everyone likes to feel at Christmas. Also it helps that the novella was very well written and that it still creates all the emotions it was written to create in modern people.

Dickens engages all readers of all ages as he based all of his character on human charactistics which then makes the novella an allegory for human behaviour. After reading this novella every person looks at them selves through an imaginary mirror and thinks about what they can change for the better within themselves, this is another reason I think the novella is so popular. I do believe that Dickens “little Carol” as it was first known will carry on through generations and there will probably be another girl sat at her computer in 50 years time writing about its success and message.