What is the importance of the play, A Christmas Carol, in the novel, With You and Without You?

The play, A Christmas Carol, has special meaning in the book. Despite her stage fright, Liza has an important—albeit nonspeaking—part in her class's adaptation of Charles Dickens's classic story. She does not want her family to see her in the play but finally relents and asks only her father to come, since it will be his last opportunity to share such an event with her.

The most important aspect of the school play, however, is Liza's role in it. Symbolically, she represents the Spirit of the Future. It is not until the following Christmas, though, by putting her father's death behind her and accepting that her life must go on, that Liza truly embodies the spirit of the future.