like, OK, don't have kids if you don't want.... but scrooge didn't have any friends. the closest he came was marley, a deceased business partner. his fiancee left him when she saw he loved money more than her.

at the end of the story, scrooge still had no kids but he saw the value in community, friendship and generosity. he also saw that he had been underpaying crachit and preventing him from getting medical treatment for tim.

i get that people can't help reading themselves into a story, but jesus. the rich, friendless asshole isn't the secret hero. but i guess capitalist ideology means no one can possibly underpay a worker.