An Analysis Of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol
The hardships Dickens experienced during his childhood directly influenced his message in A Christmas Carol, as well as his other works. When Dickens was just twelve years old, his father was imprisoned for debt, and his mother and siblings joined him in prison. Charles was sent to work in Warren’s Blacking Warehouse, a shoe polish factory. After a few months, John Dickens received an inheritance and was released from prison, but he made Charles continue working in the warehouse long after his release (Kelly 12). Dickens was overcome by feelings of despair because he could not return to school, and he carried those feelings with him for the rest of his life. It is these feelings and experiences as a child that inspired his writing and
“provide the gritty texture of A Christmas Carol: debt, poverty, hunger, isolation, ignorance, cruelty, cold, and the withholding of generosity and love” (Kelly 14). These feelings of despair once again became prevalent in 1843, when Dickens became enraged over the wholesale piracy of his works (Wrigg 538). The bitterness he was experiencing at this time in his life led him to accept an offer to lecture at the Manchester Athenaeum. When speaking to the crowd at the Athenaeum, he looked around the room at the beaming faces of the working class men and that was when he knew “he must capture the wholesome spirit of good will which he perceived before him and place it in contrast to the rancor he had been experiencing for the past several months” (Wrigg 538). Dickens had always been passionate about his critique of the upper class and the materialism which surrounded them, as was evident in his previous works such as Oliver Twist, and this passion along with his past experiences culminated at the Manchester Athenaeum as the notion of A Christmas Carol was conceived.
“provide the gritty texture of A Christmas Carol: debt, poverty, hunger, isolation, ignorance, cruelty, cold, and the withholding of generosity and love” (Kelly 14). These feelings of despair once again became prevalent in 1843, when Dickens became enraged over the wholesale piracy of his works (Wrigg 538). The bitterness he was experiencing at this time in his life led him to accept an offer to lecture at the Manchester Athenaeum. When speaking to the crowd at the Athenaeum, he looked around the room at the beaming faces of the working class men and that was when he knew “he must capture the wholesome spirit of good will which he perceived before him and place it in contrast to the rancor he had been experiencing for the past several months” (Wrigg 538). Dickens had always been passionate about his critique of the upper class and the materialism which surrounded them, as was evident in his previous works such as Oliver Twist, and this passion along with his past experiences culminated at the Manchester Athenaeum as the notion of A Christmas Carol was conceived.