Discuss the importance of Tiny Tim and the Cratchit family in the text.
In Charles Dickens' work A Christmas Carol, Tiny Tim and the Cratchit family represent people and the rejection of responsibility for them which Scrooge demonstrates. Charles Dickens felt that we are responsible for the welfare of others especially children. That is why Bob Crachit is such a sympathetic character in his willingness to work on such an important day without grumbling and then go home to his family with sympathy for his irritable boss. Tiny Tim represents the children we need to care for, and because of his handicap and the possibility of his death shown to Scrooge, he is even more sympathetic to the reading audience. This family represents all that Scrooge has rejected, and by the end, they represent all that he has learned about the joy of giving and the responsibility we all share to care for them.