Great Expectations: Chapter Analysis

In stave 3 Dickens introduces two children called Ignorance and Want who are described as: ‘wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable.’ This list of negative adjectives makes the reader empathise with the young children as they are innocent and haven’t chosen to live this saddening life. Dickens also used the adjectives scowling, wolfish’ to describe the children which is describing them as wolves and monsters, indicating that they have been neglected to live like savages. Poor people, throughout Dickens’ time, were expected to live a life of crime which also emphasises Dickens imagery of “savages.”

Throughout the extract Dickens suggests that these two children are ‘man’s’ showing that he is trying to make the reader see that by not helping those less fortunate than ourselves and the rich people, then you are turning them into creatures that are shown here. During the 19th century
this was seen amongst many wealthy people. The Poor Law was introduced in 1834, this meant that not as much money is being given to the people who need it therefore they have to go to workhouses to gain an income to support their families. This links back to Scrooge as he is very privileged and has no intentions to help others as he believes he ‘can’t afford to make idle people happy.’

In this novel Dickens wants to show the difference between the social classes; during that time.
By using children as synecdoches (Ignorance, Want and Tiny Tim) he makes sure that the reader feels sympathetic and focus on the troubles a majority of people in London were suffering with. He is able to empathise the social injustice caused by the ignorant rich people (like Scrooge) by using these young, fragile children as representatives of the poorer social classes. Dickens personifies age as a ‘shriveled hand’ and says that it ‘twisted them, and pulled them into shreds.’ This means that they are looking old where they should be youthful due to the adult responsibilities they face as they have been neglected by society.

A Christmas Carol is a Christian allegory it highlights the importance of repenting and correcting your sins. Dicken shows that if Scrooge carries on his ways he will be stopping the children from returning to a “normal” state. This is suggested when the ghost of Christmas present states ‘unless the writing be erased’, this can be accomplished by Scrooge
repenting.

During this extract the ghost of Christmas present surrounds the children and ‘they cling’ to him showing that the two children trust him and find hope in him as he’s willing to preach about their problems and spread the knowledge about their suffering to the ignorant people. Finally at the end the ghost repeats Scrooge’s words, ‘Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?’ This is able to show how wrong and ruthless he sounded when he first said these words and it allows him to reflect on his new experiences and change his opinion.

Stave 3 also shows the appearance of Tiny Tim which SCrooge and the readers feel sympathetic for as he is innocent yet ‘he bore a little crutch and had his limbs in an iron frame.’ The disabled, young child makes the reader sympathetic ,along with Ignorance and Want, because they haven’t done anything wrong but they are still being punished. Ignorance and Want show synecdoches for the social injustice in the 19th century and Tiny Tim is a synecdoche for pain and suffering among children. While talking about Tiny Tim and Scrooge, Dickens uses a metaphor about the ‘insect on the leaf’ which shows the hierarchy or the rich person on the leaf while he leaves his ‘hungry brothers in the dust.’ This shows the unfairness of society as a kind, young child like Tiny Tim is left to die while a rich, horrible man like Scrooge is able to be healthy and alive.