Ebenezer Scrooges childhood affects greatly on the man he becomes in later life. In his youth he was poor, abused by his father and lonely. At the start of the book we see Scrooge as a bitter old man who didn’t care about anyone but himself and money. But when the ghost of Christmas past takes Scrooge back we see that he was nothing like the man he is today.

One of the main reasons why Scrooge is so mean is his father. He had an extremely lonely childhood as his father abused him and sent him to a boarding school. When we first see Scrooge in his past he is at the boarding school which is very rundown. "The school is not quite deserted," said the Ghost. "A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still." This shows that not only was he lonely because of his father but also he had no friends and was neglected. Having a hard relationship with his father made him find it hard to connect to people and to have a loving relationship with someone. The only person who really cared for Scrooge was his sister who came to the school to bring with back home.

At the start of the story we are introduced to Fred who Scrooges nephew. We later on learn that his mother died. “a little girl, much younger than the boy, came darting in, and putting her arms about his neck, and often kissing him, addressed him as her 'Dear, dear brother.” The death of Scrooges sister, Fan must have affected him greatly as she was the only one who was there for him. “'You are quite a woman, little Fan!' exclaimed the boy.” Dicken is clearly commenting on how it is unfair for a father to abandon his child.

Throughout Scrooges life we see him getting more and more attached to money and becoming less happy the more he does. Many bad things came upon him because of this and has made him even more attached. The main thing was the breakup of his engagement, "another idol has displaced me;