Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

On Christmas Eve in Victorian-era London, greedy commodities trader and finance company owner Ebenezer Scrooge does not tolerate the revelry of Christmas, much less comprehend its meaning. He declines his nephew Fred Hollywell's invitation for Christmas dinner, and reluctantly grants his underpaid employee Bob Cratchit's request to have Christmas off as there will be no business during the day. Scrooge later charges three businessmen extra for corn, due to failing to meet his demands the previous day, much to their chagrin. Scrooge then declines to give a donation to charity workers Poole and Hacking, saying that the poor are better off dead. That night, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his seven year dead former business partner Jacob Marley, who warns him to repent his miserly ways, lest he be condemned to the same afterlife as that of Marley's: wandering the Earth for eternity while carrying chains forged from his own greed, forced to witness what he could not share in life. Marley says Scrooge will be visited by three spirits in the night that will try to help him avoid Marley's fate. At one o'clock, the first spirit — the Ghost of Christmas Past — takes Scrooge back in time to his lonely childhood. As a boy, Scrooge is deserted at boarding school by his father Silas who held a grudge against Ebenezer, as the latter's mother died giving birth to him. Silas gets Ebenezer an apprenticeship with the benevolent Mr. Fezziwig, after three days to spend with his loving elder sister Fan, Fred's late mother. Scrooge is eventually engaged to Belle, someone whom he initially loved, but eventually lost as he became preoccupied with financial security upon Silas' death. The Spirit shows Belle on the Christmas Eve that Marley died as a happily married mother. When Belle expresses pity for Scrooge's loneliness, he angrily extinguishes the spirit with her cap and re-appears in his bedroom. At two o'clock, the Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the joys of the holiday. At the Cratchit residence, they find Bob's family content with their small dinner. The spirit explains that Tim, Bob's crippled son, will die if the future remains unaltered. Scrooge is taken to Fred's house for the party which Scrooge declined to attend. Fred still wants to pursue a relationship with Scrooge for the sake of Fan; Ebenezer is touched by this. The spirit then takes Scrooge to a tunnel where homeless families are camped. There, the spirit shows Scrooge two malnourished children, Ignorance and Want, and warns Scrooge to beware of them. The ghost then disappears, abandoning a distraught Scrooge. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives and takes Scrooge to an exchange, where the three businessmen mockingly discuss the death of a colleague, whose funeral they would attend only if lunch is provided. Scrooge is transported to his own bedroom, where a dead man lies under a sheet. Scrooge does not lift the sheet but demands to be shown emotion over the man's death. He is taken to a poor section of town where his possessions are being fenced after having been stolen, with the thief and the fencer mocking the dead owner. Scrooge complains that he was shown only greed and avarice, demanding to see tenderness instead. He is transported to the Cratchit house, where Bob and his family mourn the recent death of Tim - who has succumbed to his illness. Distraught, Ebenezer asks to be taken home but is instead taken to a cemetery. When he asks who the dead man in his bedroom was, the ghost points to a neglected, snow-covered grave. Scrooge wipes the snow away to see that the tombstone bears his own name; recognising the repercussions of his heartlessness, Scrooge tearfully vows to change his ways and begs to be spared as the ghost's kind hand trembles. Ebenezer then finds himself back in his bedroom before crying himself to sleep. Awakening as sunlight breaks, and discovering that it is Christmas Day, a gleeful Scrooge anonymously sends the Cratchits a prize-winning turkey for dinner. Offering Christmas wishes among London's citizens, he makes a large donation to Poole and Hacking. At the Hollywell residence, Fred is delighted when Ebenezer accepts the invitation to dinner and reconciles with him. The next day, Scrooge plays a prank on Bob; pretending to be about to fire him for lateness, Ebenezer instead doubles Bob's salary. Scrooge comes to treat everyone around him with kindness and generosity, and becomes a second father to Tim (who recovers and does not die), embodying the Christmas spirit.