<Li> The man whom Dickens eventually mentions in his letters and who strongly resembles the character portrayed by Dickens's illustrator, John Leech, was a noted British eccentric and miser named John Elwes (1714--1789). </Li> <P> Kelly writes that Scrooge may have been influenced by Dickens's conflicting feelings for his father, who he both loved and demonised . This psychological conflict may be responsible for the two radically different Scrooges in the tale--one a cold, stingy and greedy semi-recluse, the other a benevolent, sociable man . Robert Douglas - Fairhurst, the professor of English literature, considers that in the opening part of the book covering young Scrooge's lonely and unhappy childhood, and his aspiration for money to avoid poverty "is something of a self - parody of Dickens's fears about himself"; the post-transformation parts of the book are how Dickens optimistically sees himself . </P> <P> Scrooge could also be based on two misers: the eccentric John Elwes, MP, or Jemmy Wood, the owner of the Gloucester Old Bank who was also known as "The Gloucester Miser". According to the sociologist Frank W. Elwell, Scrooge's views on the poor are a reflection of those of the demographer and political economist Thomas Malthus, while the miser's questions "Are there no prisons?...And the Union workhouses?...The treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" are a reflection of a sarcastic question raised by the Chartist philosopher Thomas Carlyle, "Are there not treadmills, gibbets; even hospitals, poor - rates, New Poor - Law?" </P> <P> There are literary precursors for Scrooge in Dickens's own works . Peter Ackroyd, Dickens's biographer, sees similarities between Scrooge and the elder Martin Chuzzlewit character, although the miser is "a more fantastic image" than the Chuzzlewit patriarch; Ackroyd observes that Chuzzlewit's transformation to a charitable figure is a parallel to that of the miser . Douglas - Fairhurst sees that the minor character Gabriel Grub from The Pickwick Papers was also an influence when creating Scrooge . </P>

10 things that happened to scrooge on christmas eve