Tiny Tim (A Christmas Carol)



Tiny Tim Cratchit is a fictional character from the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Although seen only briefly, he is a major character, and serves as an important symbol of the consequences of the protagonist's choices.

Character overview
Tiny Tim is the young, ailing son of Bob Cratchit, Ebenezer Scrooge’s underpaid clerk. When Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present he is shown just how ill the boy really is (the family cannot afford to properly treat him on the salary Scrooge pays Cratchit). When visited by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Scrooge sees that Tiny Tim has died. This, and several other visions, leads Scrooge to reform his ways. At the end of the story, Dickens makes it explicit that Tiny Tim does not die, and Scrooge becomes a "second father" to him.

In the story, 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, symbolic of Scrooge's change of heart.

Character development
In earlier drafts, the character's name was "Little Fred". Dickens may have derived the name from his brothers, who both had "Fred" as a part of their names, one named Alfred and the other Frederick. Dickens also had a sister, Fanny, who had a disabled son named Henry Augustus Burnett (1839–1849) who may have been an inspiration for Tiny Tim. It has also been claimed that the character is based on the son of a friend, who owned a cotton mill in Ardwick, Manchester.

Dickens tried other names such as "Tiny Mick" after "Little Fred" but eventually decided upon "Tiny Tim". After dropping the name "Little Fred", Dickens later used it for Scrooge's nephew, "Fred".

Illness
Dickens never explicitly specified the illness Tiny Tim suffered. In 1992, renal tubular acidosis (type 1), which is a type of kidney failure causing the blood to become acidic, was proposed as one possibility. Rickets (caused by a lack of vitamin D) has been proposed as another possibility, as it was a not uncommon disease during that time period. Both illnesses were treatable during Dickens' lifetime, but fatal if untreated, thus following in line with the Ghost of Christmas Present remarking that Tiny Tim would die "[i]f these shadows remain[ed] unaltered by the Future".

A 1997 editorial in the Journal of Infectious Diseases presented a fictional account of construction workers in London discovering Tiny Tim's grave to speculate on the possible causes of his ailment.

Notable portrayals
The role of Tiny Tim has been performed (live action, voiced or animated) by:
 * Phillip Frost in the 1935 film Scrooge
 * Terry Kilburn in the 1938 film A Christmas Carol
 * Glyn Dearman in the 1951 film Scrooge
 * Dennis Holmes on Ronald Reagan's General Electric Theater in the 1957 episode "The Trail to Christmas"
 * Joan Gardner (as a properly speaking Gerald McBoing-Boing) in the 1962 animated television film Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol
 * Richard Beaumont in the 1970 film Scrooge
 * Timothy Chasin in the 1977 television movie A Christmas Carol
 * Mel Blanc (as Tweety Pie) in the 1979 animated short film Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol
 * Dick Billingsley (as Morty Fieldmouse) in the 1983 animated film Mickey's Christmas Carol
 * Anthony Walters in the 1984 television film A Christmas Carol
 * Nicholas Phillips (as Calvin Cooley, in this case a depressed boy of few words) in the 1988 film Scrooged
 * Mary Lou Retton (as herself) played Tiny Tim in the film-within-a-film.
 * Jerry Nelson (as Robin the Frog) in Disney's 1992 film The Muppet Christmas Carol
 * Don Messick (as Bamm-Bamm Rubble) in the 1994 television special A Flintstones Christmas Carol
 * Jarrad Kritzstein in the 1997 animated television film A Christmas Carol
 * Ben Tibber in the 1999 television film A Christmas Carol
 * Jacob Collier in the 2004 TV movie A Christmas Carol: The Musical
 * Tara Strong (as Priscilla Pig, in a similar but not identical role) in the 2006 video Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas
 * Ryan Ochoa (Mocap performance by Gary Oldman) in the 2009 film A Christmas Carol
 * As a fieldmouse in Nature Cat: a Nature Carol
 * Lenny Rush in the 2019 BBC three-part miniseries A Christmas Carol (the first time a disabled actor has played this role in a major adaptation)