Fred is a fictional character in the classic story A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol (full title: A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas) is Charles Dickens little Christmas Book first published on December 19,[1] 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ... Dickens redirects here. ...
Fred is Scrooge's nephew and only living relative. He is a kind-hearted, cheerful, optimistic man who loves Christmas. He believes that there is good in everyone, even his miserly, misanthropic Uncle Scrooge. Every Christmas he invites his uncle to have Christmas dinner with him, only to be rejected. He believes that his uncle's ways can be changed. Fran, Fred's mother and Scrooge's sister, died some time before the story began. Scrooge loved his sister very much and never accepted that she had died. The sight of Fred would bring back memories of her inside him, which did not settle all that well within him, which is the reason for his hostility towards Fred. Even though Fred is optimistic in his hopes that his uncle will change his ways, he is still quite shocked at Scrooge's transformation at the end of the story.