![]() ![]() (Dickens himself had a sister named Fan.) Fan informs Ebenezer that he can come home for Christmas. On some Christmas Eve following the time of his isolation in the school, the young Scrooge receives a visit from Fan, his beloved sister. "I should like to have given him something: that's all." Ironically, Scrooge had almost given that boy something - a rap with his ruler! Yet as he feels for himself as a boy, Scrooge also shows the first glimmer of care for another human being as well: "There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night," he explains to the ghost. For the first time in a long time he feels compassion for someone else, even if that "someone else" is really just an earlier version of himself. The old man weeps bitter tears for the child he once was. The school is deserted, all except for one boy, "a solitary child, neglected by his friends." It is Scrooge, of course, left alone with nothing to cheer him but the characters from his beloved books. Next Scrooge sees his fellow students merrily on their way to celebrate Christmas. Yet the spirit has only begun his transforming effort. The sights and sounds of his youth begin to soften Scrooge's heart. The Ghost of Christmas Past is a strange apparition who explains the purpose of his visit as Scrooge's "welfare," or, indeed, his "reclamation." The spirit begins by magically transporting Scrooge to the place where he spent his boyhood. The Impact of the Ghost of Christmas Past Yet Marley's impact would be most keenly felt, not in his visit, but in his sending three other spirits to "haunt" Scrooge. I showed that we see the tiniest hint of his transformation in his interaction with the ghost of Jacob Marley, whose graciousness to Scrooge elicited a morsel of gratitude from the old miser. In Part Five of the series I began to examine A Christmas Carol to discover why Ebenezer Scrooge changed so dramatically. ![]()
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