"Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home's like Heaven! He spoke so gently to me one dear night when I was going to bed, that I was not afraid to ask him once more if you might come home"
That alone says so much about Scrooges childhood. It seems that he was sent away by his father and that the man was so awful that even his daughter was too scared to talk to him. I really wonder what made him change his mind. Was he visited by ghosts, too?
I agree Cloudy! This father sounds incredible abusive. I like that Dickens does not bring us to the very beginning of Scrooge’s upbringing and leaves it to our imagination. I think doing so makes it worse.
It's so crazy that I haven't seen an adaptation that has included Scrooge's sister, despite the fact that her son is a super important character in the story
“A Christmas Carol” (1951) with Alastair Sim includes her, though they bump up her age a fair bit. Reading this I’m actually surprised at how many lines that adaptation took directly from the book.
Such light sentences, but they're brutal:
"She died a woman," said the Ghost, "and had, as I think, children."
"One child," Scrooge returned.
"True," said the Ghost. "Your nephew!"
Scrooge seemed uneasy in his mind; and answered briefly, "Yes."
"Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home's like Heaven! He spoke so gently to me one dear night when I was going to bed, that I was not afraid to ask him once more if you might come home"
That alone says so much about Scrooges childhood. It seems that he was sent away by his father and that the man was so awful that even his daughter was too scared to talk to him. I really wonder what made him change his mind. Was he visited by ghosts, too?
I agree Cloudy! This father sounds incredible abusive. I like that Dickens does not bring us to the very beginning of Scrooge’s upbringing and leaves it to our imagination. I think doing so makes it worse.
It's so crazy that I haven't seen an adaptation that has included Scrooge's sister, despite the fact that her son is a super important character in the story
“A Christmas Carol” (1951) with Alastair Sim includes her, though they bump up her age a fair bit. Reading this I’m actually surprised at how many lines that adaptation took directly from the book.
The 1999 "A Christmas Carol" with Patrick Stewart has the sister in it. That movie is pretty close to the book in other ways, as well.