CONTEXT

• A Christmas Carol was written by Charles Dickens in 1843.
• A Christmas Carol is an allegory (story with a moral or meaning) about social injustice.
• Dickens felt strongly that Victorian society just ignored the poverty in their streets. The Poor Law was introduced in 1834 to reduce the cost of helping the poor. This meant that people in need of assistance were sent to workhouses, instead of being helped by charities.
• Around the time when A Christmas Carol was written, ‘Ragged Schools’ were being introduced. These were schools for poor children to receive some kind of education, and were free to attend.
• Victorian attitudes towards disability were a mixture of fear, pity, and discomfort. These attitudes were fuelled by the medicalisation of the disabled, during Queen Victoria’s reign.
• The Victorians transformed ideas about Christmas, centering it around family. They valued the time spent together whilst preparing food, decorating, and giving gifts. Boxing Day was also created as an official holiday during Victoria’s reign, where unwanted gifts were ‘boxed’ up, and given to orphanages and charities.
• The supernatural started to become a popular inclusion in texts during the Victorian Era. This is known as the Gothic Genre. Dickens branded A Christmas Carol as a ‘ghost story’, which some people think is because it was a popular tradition to read such books at festive times.