About Bob Cratchit
The key Bob Cratchit quotes from A Christmas Carol show Scrooge's underpaid clerk as a symbol of the dignified Victorian working poor. Through Bob's warmth, gratitude and devotion to Tiny Tim, Dickens exposes the cruelty of poverty and builds the case for Scrooge's redemption.
Bob Cratchit is Scrooge's long-suffering clerk who earns only 15 shillings a week. Despite his poverty and Scrooge's cruel treatment, Bob remains cheerful, hardworking, and devoted to his family. He is father to six children, including the disabled Tiny Tim, and husband to the spirited Mrs Cratchit.
Bob represents the Victorian working poor - honest people kept in poverty by miserly employers. His family's humble Christmas celebration, filled with love and gratitude despite their poverty, contrasts sharply with Scrooge's lonely wealth. Dickens uses Bob to argue that the poor deserve compassion and fair treatment, not scorn and exploitation.
PovertyFamilyHumilityWorking ClassChristmas Spirit
Related quotes and themes
Bob Cratchit's quotes are central to two of the novella's biggest exam themes. Explore them in more detail: