Tiny Tim (real name "Timothy Cratchit") (also known as "Trench Foot Tim") is a fictional character in the classic story A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. He is the son of Bob Cratchit. It is claimed that the character is based on the invalid son of a friend of Dickens who owned a cotton mill in Ardwick, Manchester.[1]
When Scrooge is visited by The Ghost of Christmas Present he is shown just how ill Tim really is, and that Tim will die unless he receives treatment. When visited by The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come all he sees of Tim is his crutch, as Tim has died. This, and several other visions, lead Scrooge to reform his ways. At the end of the story, Dickens makes it explicit that Tim did not die, and Scrooge became a "second father" to him. According to some other versions of A Christmas Carol, Tim Cratchit eventually gained health by Scrooge's money, and later became a successful businessman. When Ebenezer Scrooge died, he became the only member of the Cratchit family to attend his funeral.
Dickens did not reveal in the book what Tiny Tim's illness was, but renal tubular acidosis (a type of kidney failure causing the blood to become acidic) has been proposed as one possibility, as has rickets (caused by a lack of Vitamin D).[2][3]
Tiny Tim is known for the statement, "God bless us, every one!," which he offers as a blessing at Christmas dinner. Dickens repeats the phrase at the end of the story.
References
- ^ Seacock, Doug. "Charles Dickens - writing from life" (HTTP). Egypt Cotton Times. http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/dickenso.html. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
- ^ Lewis D (1992). "What was wrong with Tiny Tim?". Am J Dis Child 146 (12): 1403–7. PMID 1340779.
- ^ What Ailed Tiny Tim - TIME
External links
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- A Christmas Carol at Project Gutenberg
- A Christmas Carol - In Prose - A Ghost Story of Christmas (with illustrations) - Special Collections, University of Glasgow
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