ACC Minor Characters Key Quotes

Cratchit Family (children)

Summary

The Cratchit children represent the innocence and vulnerability of the Victorian working class. Through their joyful spirit despite poverty, Dickens criticises the injustice of social inequality and reveals the nobility of the poor. Tiny Tim, in particular, is portrayed as a beacon of Christian virtue and moral conscience.

Key Words

• Innocuous – harmless and inoffensive; symbolising moral purity

• Symbolic – representing a greater idea or theme

• Sentimentalised – emotionally idealised to provoke compassion

• Vulnerable – open to harm or attack; emotionally or physically fragile

• Redemptive – capable of saving or leading to salvation

Key Quotes

• “he bore a little crutch and had his limbs supported by an iron frame”

  • Pathos, highlights Tiny Tim’s physical fragility

  • Tim is a moral compass for Scrooge

  • Tim is a symbol of the struggling, disadvantaged children

  • Tiny Tim may have rickets

• “God bless us every one!”

  • Religious imagery, Exclamatory sentence, Tiny Tim reinforces Christian beliefs about Christmas

• “There never was such a goose cooked.”

  • Hyperbole – showing they exaggerate the excitement of a goose which is too small for them as a family but they are grateful anyway.

  • They can find happiness in scarcity

  • Promotes a moral reflection for reader

• “Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes”

  • Adjective – shows that there isn’t enough food to go around

  • Cratchit’s are utilising everything they have

• “monstrous shirt collar (Bob’s private property”

  • Peter has large aspirations despite lack of of wealth

  • Suggests struggle as it is not Peter’s shirt

Intent

Dickens uses the Cratchit children to appeal to readers’ emotions, especially those in privileged positions. Through their fragility, he exposes the real-life consequences of societal neglect. Tiny Tim’s illness becomes a symbol of what happens when society fails its most vulnerable.

Ignorance + Want

Summary

Ignorance and Want are two allegorical children revealed by the Ghost of Christmas Present in Stave 3. Ragged, starving, and grotesquely aged beyond their years, they represent the two most dangerous consequences of social neglect. Dickens uses them to embody the suffering caused by society’s indifference to poverty and lack of education, particularly among children.

These figures are not merely poor – they are symbolic of what Dickens saw as the moral and social decay of a nation that prioritised profit over people. They appear only briefly, but their impact is deeply unsettling and unforgettable, reinforcing the novella's political message.

Key Words

• Allegory – symbolic figures or events representing deeper truths or messages

• Destitution – extreme poverty and lack of basic resources

• Didactic – intended to teach a moral or lesson

• Foreboding – giving a strong sense that something terrible will happen

• Dehumanisation – the process of depriving people of dignity and individuality

Key Quotes

• “wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable.”

  • Asyndetic listing, Overwhelms the reader with horror

  • Shows the grotesque results of social neglect

  • Children reduced to objects of pity rather than individuals

• “Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish”

  • Asyndetic listing, Zoomorphism, Repulsive image

  • Dehumanised - extreme deprivation has made them animalistic

  • Stripped of dignity

• “Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing.”

  • Metaphor, religious imagery, Children are supposed to be angelic and heavenly

• “They are Man’s… and they cling to me”

  • Society has let children down - people should feel responsible

  • Children are desperate and in need of help

• “I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”

  • Personification of Doom - powerful force to be overturned

  • highlights urgency for reform

Intent

Dickens crafts Ignorance and Want as a chilling warning. He believed that the upper classes’ apathy towards the poor—especially poor children—would lead to societal collapse. By making them symbolic and horrific, he strips away any illusion that poverty is natural or acceptable. Instead, he shows that society creates and sustains it through ignorance and selfishness. Through them, Dickens pleads for education, empathy, and social reform.

Belle

Summary

Belle is Scrooge’s former fiancée, introduced in Stave 2 during the Ghost of Christmas Past’s visit. Though she appears briefly, her character is deeply significant. She symbolises lost love, moral clarity, and the life that Scrooge could have had—a life of emotional fulfilment over material gain. Belle’s decision to leave Scrooge marks a critical turning point in his moral decline.

Key Words

• Moral compass – a character who shows the morally correct path

• Disillusionment – a feeling of disappointment from discovering something is not as good as believed

• Melancholic – expressing sadness or sorrow

• Consequence – a result or effect, especially one that is unwelcome or unpleasant

Key Quotes

• “Another idol has displaced me…a golden one”

  • Metaphor + Religious allusion, Belle equates money with false worship, highlighting Scrooge’s increasing desire for money. Dickens is condemning materialism

  • Scrooge’s obsession stems from a fear of poverty

• “May you be happy in the life you have chosen.”

  • Irony, Scrooge has not chosen happiness but materialism and loneliness

• “Gain engrosses you.”

  • Belle states how greed had consumed Scrooge

  • It has destructive power

• “Now a comely matron sitting opposite her daughter”

  • Belle’s life is now full of warmth and joy

  • She has become happy without wealth

Intent

Dickens uses Belle as a mirror to Scrooge’s younger self and a warning of what he has sacrificed. She represents a path not taken—one of emotional richness and moral integrity. Through Belle, Dickens critiques the Victorian obsession with wealth and status, illustrating that true happiness lies in human connection, not financial gain. Belle’s rejection of Scrooge is a quiet act of resistance against a society that measures worth in money rather than love.

Fan

Summary

Fan is Scrooge’s younger sister, seen in Stave 2 during his visit with the Ghost of Christmas Past. Although her appearance is brief, she plays a crucial role in humanising Scrooge and revealing the emotional wounds from his childhood. Fan symbolises love, familial warmth, and innocence. Her kindness offers a stark contrast to the emotional coldness that defines Scrooge later in life.

Key Words

• Idealised – portrayed in an emotionally perfected or romanticised way

• Affectionate – demonstrating genuine warmth and fondness

• Melancholic – tinged with sadness or loss

• Innocuous – harmless, pure, and uncorrupted

• Evocative – powerfully bringing emotion, memory, or imagery to mind

Key Quotes

• “Dear, dear brother!”

  • Repetition, deep affection

  • Figure of love and warmth for Scrooge that he has lost

• “Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home’s like Heaven!”

  • Simile, Fan is optimistic and forgiving

  • Fan is full of love

Intent

Dickens uses Fan to symbolise emotional warmth, feminine virtue, and the familial love that Scrooge once cherished. Through her, he highlights how formative experiences—especially the loss of a loved one—can harden the human spirit. Fan’s presence is a reminder that emotional neglect has personal origins, and that the memory of love can become a catalyst for change. By presenting Fan so idealistically, Dickens evokes a sense of tragic loss, underscoring the novella’s central call for compassion and reconnection.

Fezziwig

Summary

Fezziwig is Scrooge’s former employer, introduced during the visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past in Stave 2. He represents the ideal employer—cheerful, generous, and deeply human. His lively Christmas party becomes a moral touchstone for Scrooge, sharply contrasting with his own miserly treatment of Bob Cratchit. Fezziwig’s character is less about plot and more about principle: Dickens uses him to show how power, when wielded with kindness, can uplift others.

Key Words

• Jovial – cheerful and friendly

• Benevolent – kind-hearted, charitable

• Altruistic – motivated by concern for others rather than self-interest

• Nostalgic – evoking sentimental longing for the past

Key Quotes

• “A positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwig’s calves. They shone in every part of the dance like moons.'”

  • Metaphor, generosity has brough Fezziwig great joy

  • Simile, emphasis purity and being heavenly

  • Fezziwig cannot contain his happiness

• “The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it costs a fortune.”

  • The Upper Class can change lives if they wish

  • happiness is most important

• "comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial voice”

  • Asyndetic listing, abundance and indulgence

  • Fezziwig is foil to Scrooge

Intent

Dickens presents Fezziwig as a moral role model in opposition to the cold, profit-driven employers of Victorian England. In an age of rampant industrial exploitation, Fezziwig is proof that capitalism need not be cruel. He reminds readers that business should not come at the cost of kindness—and that joy, respect, and festive generosity are not just sentimental values, but essential for social harmony. His presence in the novella serves to stir Scrooge’s conscience and to challenge the reader’s.