key context

• 1834 - poor law

  • punished the poor for being poor - could be jailed if you were unemployed or homeless
  • could work for free in a workhouse for accommodation and (little) food
  • Dickens' critiqued this heavily within S1 : 'are there no prisons? are there no workhouses?'
• Victorian Class Divide

  • this idea is explored through the entire novel - the tiny rich part of society was unaware of the poor (the Cratchit family) and how their lifestyles were so difficult
  • The rich were unaware of children alike to ignorance and want and were ignorant to how the class divide effected society as a whole
• Scrooge's character development throughout the novella shows Dickens' belief that people can change, even those who have been cruel and selfish all their lives.
• Charity

  • A Christmas carol is about the importance of charitable actions from the rich towards the poor
  • Scrooge becomes a patron (financial supporter) to Tiny Tim
  • This idea was to inspire/influence the rich Victorian audience to become charitable
• Redemption

  • Victorians were very religious and believed in the afterlife
  • Dickens' conveyed that if they became like Scrooge, they could alter their afterlife.
  • If they were like Jacob Marley and died, they would go to hell.
• Christmas

  • In the Novel, Dickens is showing the religious audience the sacrifice God had made by sending Jesus (who was born on Christmas day) for humans.
• Family

  • Scrooge rejected his family which contributed to his misery. However, people like Belle, Bob and Fred were happy as they put their family in the centre of their lives.
  • At the end of the novella, Scrooge learns the overwhelming importance of family.
• Class and Social Injustice

  • Dickens shows that the rich (the main audience) contributes to injustices as they were greedy and underpaid their workers, creating extreme struggle in their private lives.
  • An example of this is Bob Cratchit