Original artwork, not a still
A Christmas Carol • 1843
God bless us every one!
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Tim is the book's smallest, frailest voice, and he gives the biggest blessing: not God bless us, but every one, Scrooge included. That is why Dickens ends the story on it and why the words are printed on cards, sung in carols and repeated in every film and stage version. It turns a poor family's thin dinner into the argument for generosity.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for A Christmas CarolShow the scene
Christmas Day in the Cratchit household, in Stave Three. Bob Cratchit's family has made a feast of one small goose and a pudding, and Bob proposes a Merry Christmas to them all. Tiny Tim, the youngest, speaks last of all with his blessing, sitting close beside his father. Scrooge, watching unseen with the Ghost of Christmas Present, asks whether the boy will live. The Ghost answers that he sees a vacant seat and a crutch without an owner, unless the shadows change. In Stave Five, Tim does not die.
Sources (1)
- A Christmas Carol (Project Gutenberg text)Stave III, the Cratchits' Christmas dinner; Stave V, near the endReference checked
Context reviewed
