context

• what revolution was happening at the time?

  the industrial revolution
• what was the poor law?

  a law passed by the government in 1834 establishing the workhouses
• what were conditions like in the workhouses?

  terrible
• why were infant mortality rates high in victorian england?

  malnourishment, poverty and disease
• who does scrooge has similar views to?

  thomas malthus
• why did dickens write a christmas carol?

  to raise awareness of the issues in victorian society
• what are the cratchits a symbol of?

  victorian working class
• what do ignorance and want represent?

  the ignorance of the rich and needs of the poor
• what are the main themes of the novella?

  • redemption

  • social injustice

  • importance of family
• what was the blue law and when was it passed?

  a law passed in 1781 forcing shops to close on sundays, meaning that the poor couldn’t heat up their meals
• what did thomas malthus believe?

  • poverty was an inevitable result of overpopulation

  • there wasn’t enough food to go around, causing the poor to become malnourished as most of the food went to the rich
• what were dickens aims?

  • teach the importance of social responsibility

  • warn social decay if ignorance towards the poor continued

  • celebrate christmas as a time for everyone, including the poor

  • criticise the upper classes treatment towards the poor, the poor law malthusian values
• what does dickens aim to do through the cratchit?

  elicit sympathy
• when was the novel written?

  1843