Poverty in 'A Christmas Carol'
How does Dickens Convey the Importance of Poverty in ‘A Christmas Carol’?
‘A Christmas Carol’ is a short powerful novel written by Charles Dickens in 1843 and tells the story of how one man, Ebeneezer Scrooge, changes his ways from a cruel, money-obsessed miser to a good, honest Christian after terrifying visitations from three ghosts. During this period, Victorian readers were thoroughly convinced of the supernatural and omnipotent power of God, making this oval socially embraced through the population. Arguably, this novel was a way to generate awareness about the lives of the poor, true to Dickens’ philanthropic philosophy, as many upper class families would read the book and show compassion for the terrible conditions they were living in. At this time, poverty was predominant in London so the Poor Law was put in place so that each parish had to give money to its poor. However, many were still forced to go to workhouses and work in the terrible conditions for long hours in exchange for meagre amounts of food, resulting in many poor dying anyway- a consequence that both Scrooge and the victorian reader has to witness in Stave 4 with the death of Tiny Tim caused by poverty.
Primarily, Dickens symbolises poverty and death with the character of Tiny Tim. Notably, he shows that Scrooge is greatly affected by the the family’s poverty, but especially on the crippled Tiny Tim, a character that Dickens includes to represent the population of poor children as Tiny Tim is a helpless victim of poverty. Scrooge’s newfound empathy is shown, ‘tell me if Tiny Tim will live’ showing that seeing this life of poverty has changed his attitude to the poor. The spirit warns Scrooge that, ‘If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die’, filling Scrooge with, ‘penitence and grief’, and a desire to help Tiny Tim, ‘Scrooge had his eye upon them, and especially on Tiny Tim, until the last.’ Ultimately, the harshness of poverty is shown by the death of Tiny Tim,
‘A Christmas Carol’ is a short powerful novel written by Charles Dickens in 1843 and tells the story of how one man, Ebeneezer Scrooge, changes his ways from a cruel, money-obsessed miser to a good, honest Christian after terrifying visitations from three ghosts. During this period, Victorian readers were thoroughly convinced of the supernatural and omnipotent power of God, making this oval socially embraced through the population. Arguably, this novel was a way to generate awareness about the lives of the poor, true to Dickens’ philanthropic philosophy, as many upper class families would read the book and show compassion for the terrible conditions they were living in. At this time, poverty was predominant in London so the Poor Law was put in place so that each parish had to give money to its poor. However, many were still forced to go to workhouses and work in the terrible conditions for long hours in exchange for meagre amounts of food, resulting in many poor dying anyway- a consequence that both Scrooge and the victorian reader has to witness in Stave 4 with the death of Tiny Tim caused by poverty.
Primarily, Dickens symbolises poverty and death with the character of Tiny Tim. Notably, he shows that Scrooge is greatly affected by the the family’s poverty, but especially on the crippled Tiny Tim, a character that Dickens includes to represent the population of poor children as Tiny Tim is a helpless victim of poverty. Scrooge’s newfound empathy is shown, ‘tell me if Tiny Tim will live’ showing that seeing this life of poverty has changed his attitude to the poor. The spirit warns Scrooge that, ‘If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die’, filling Scrooge with, ‘penitence and grief’, and a desire to help Tiny Tim, ‘Scrooge had his eye upon them, and especially on Tiny Tim, until the last.’ Ultimately, the harshness of poverty is shown by the death of Tiny Tim,