Dickens employs metaphor to deepen descriptions of Scrooge's dynamic transformation. At the end of A Christmas Carol, the narrator compares Scrooge's laugh to a father:
Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh. The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs!
This metaphor has two important components. First, the laugh will "father" many future laughs, which means that Scrooge's transformation is permanent. It foreshadows a very happy future (unlike the one shown to him by the Ghost of Christmas Future). Secondly, it evokes the idea of Scrooge as a father. Although he does not have any children, he plans to show the ideal fatherly characteristics of love and kindness to everyone in his vicinity. This includes Tiny Tim, whose plight initially emphasizes that those who have little can still have a good attitude, and those who have much (like Scrooge) can still be grumpy. However, at the end of the story, Scrooge shows every sign of having changed. He is mature. He is happy, lighthearted, and generous. His laugh recalls those of the schoolboys shown to him by the Ghost of Christmas Past and marks his dramatic shift from an archetypical Gothic patriarch to a kindhearted human.
