Poverty

• “Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”

  • Repetition of “many”: Emphasises the scale of suffering among the poor
  • “Rather die”: A shocking phrase that highlights how brutal and degrading workhouses were
  • Tone: Serious and direct, contrasting with Scrooge’s dismissive attitude
  • Effect: Dickens shows that poverty is not just about lack of money — it’s about dignity and survival
• “Brave in ribbons”

  • Juxtaposition: The Cratchits are poor, but they wear their best clothes with pride
  • “Brave”: Suggests dignity and effort despite hardship
  • Symbolism: The ribbons represent joy and family pride, not wealth
  • Effect: Dickens shows that poverty doesn’t strip people of their humanity — the Cratchits are loving, joyful, and proud despite having little
• “The ways were foul and narrow; the shops and houses wretched.”

  • Adjective “foul”: Creates a sensory image of filth, decay, and moral neglect
  • It conveys both physical dirt and a sense of social corruption
  • “Wretched”: Emotive language suggesting misery and abandonment
  • Asyndetic listing (“the shops and houses wretched”): The lack of conjunctions adds to the harsh, relentless feel — there’s no break from poverty
  • Effect: Dickens immerses the reader in the squalor of urban poverty, showing how the environment reflects societal neglect
• “Scanty but they were in a singularly fine flow, for they had been Tim’s blood-horse all the way from church.”

  • “Scanty”: Suggests poverty — they have little — but the focus is on emotional warmth
  • Metaphor “Tim’s blood-horse”: Imaginative and joyful — even poor children create wonder from nothing
  • Juxtaposition: Physical weakness and economic hardship contrast with childlike joy and imagination
  • Effect: Dickens highlights resilience in the poor, but also subtly points out how poverty forces children to suffer physically while masking it emotionally