Thursday, April 3, 2014

How is Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol (the film) considered an innocent youth?

Dickens' A Christmas Carol has been analyzed in a variety of ways through the years, and there are many movie versions.  However, the character of Tiny Tim is easy to see as representative of innocence in them all.  Dickens himself grew up in difficult circumstances, and through his hardship as a young man, it's easy to see how he would have come to view children as the innocent victims of society and humanity at that time.  Tiny Tim is the perfect example of a child born into the filth, disease and poverty of Victorian London.  Through no fault of his own, Tiny Tim is living in reduced circumstances and with an illness (likely caused by those circumstances), for which he is unable to gain treatment (due to his unearned poverty).  He is clearly "innocent" of any reason for his situation...as are many of that time and place (which Dickens is clearly attempting to point out through his writing). Furthermore, Dickens' story shows us the Ghost of Christmas Present who reveals the children named Innocence and Want.  The ghost warns Scrooge to beware the boy more, as on his forehead is written "doom". This could be seen as correlative to the male character of Tiny Tim.  In the end, Scrooge comes to realize that he (and perhaps society as a whole), is responsible for Tiny Tim (rather than Tiny Tim himself being culpable), and ultimately comes to his aid. 

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