A christmas carol what was wrong with tiny tim

Scrooge is affected by the child and when he is shown the Cratchit family Christmas by the Ghost of Christmas Present, he worries whether Tiny Tim will live. At the end of the novella, after Scrooge changes his character, we learn that he becomes like a second father to Tiny Tim. After Bob Cratchit raises a toast at the Christmas dinner table, Tiny Tim echoes the toast and includes everyone. We learn that Tiny Tim is kind and able to offer an equal love to all mankind. Physicians, Dickens scholars, and historians have tried to diagnose the condition that affected Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol.

Leading entities include tuberculosis TB , rickets, malnutrition, cerebral palsy, spinal dysraphism, and renal tubular acidosis.

This article posits that an examination of the environment of London of to when the novella was written can provide important clues as to his condition. During the last of these visitations, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge among other things that Tiny Tim has died of his ailments.

Ultimately, however, Scrooge repents and becomes more generous with the Cratchit family. Different scholars have suggested a variety of ailments including cerebral palsy, TB, nutritional deficiency, rickets, spine injury, polio and renal tubular acidosis; this latter is a good candidate, since it can have a deleterious effect on a skeleton, yet be easily reversed by treatment with alkaline salts.

Although not a cure, the symptoms of TB can be greatly alleviated by strengthening the immune system. Russell W. In the worst parts of London, the poor lived in filthy, crowded conditions shaded by soot-filled skies. While this saved them from sunburns see: What Causes Sunburns , it had detrimental effects to other parts of their health.