Social Injustice

• “They are Man’s… and they cling to me.”

  • Ownership “Man’s”: Emphasises that social injustice is not fate — it's created by people, especially the powerful
  • “Cling to me”: The children won’t let go, symbolising how injustice burdens society — it cannot be escaped or ignored
  • Biblical echo: The ghost speaking like a prophet increases the moral weight
  • Effect: Dickens makes social injustice a universal responsibility — not just the government's, but everyone's
• Who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”

  • Religious allusion: Tim compares Jesus's miracles to kindness — showing how caring for the poor is a spiritual act
  • Innocent voice: Through a child’s words, Dickens delivers a powerful message on charity and hope
  • Contrast with reality: Tim believes in miracles, yet lives in poverty and illness — highlighting the injustice of his situation
  • Effect: Dickens shows the gap between faith in goodness and the harsh reality of social inequality
• “It is enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people’s.”

  • Selfish philosophy: Scrooge's worldview supports injustice by promoting individualism and indifference
  • “His own business”: He sees poverty as someone else’s problem — reinforcing the divide between rich and poor
  • Tone: Cold, dismissive, and transactional
  • Effect: Dickens criticises how the wealthy excuse inaction while injustice grows around them
• “The ways were foul and narrow; the shops and houses wretched.”

  • Sensory imagery: Dickens paints a grim picture of urban poverty — filthy, overcrowded, and decaying
  • “Foul,” “wretched”: Emphasise the suffering caused by systemic neglect
  • Setting as reflection: The physical environment mirrors the moral rot of a society that allows such injustice
  • Effect: Dickens makes poverty visible — forcing the reader to confront the reality that Scrooge (and many Victorians) tried to ignore