Ignorance And Want

• The ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge two children named Ignorance and Want
• Dickens suggests that the children represent the present moment in time
• The children are described as wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, and miserable
• The adjectives used to describe the children include:

  • Wretched: incredibly unhappy and unfortunate
  • Abject: lacking pride or dignity
  • Frightful: unpleasant and shocking
  • Hideous: extremely ugly
  • Miserable: unhappy
• The appearance of these children in the novella is meant to shock the reader
• The change in tone created by the appearance of the children is jarring and out of sync with earlier cheerful Christmas celebrations
• The children are further described as yellow, meager, ragged, scowling, and wolfish
• The adjectives used to describe the children include:

  • Yellow: connotes illness, possibly caused by jaundice
  • Meager: lacking in quantity or quality, implying malnourishment
  • Ragged: wearing rags, woefully underdressed
  • Scowling: frowning in an angry, bad-tempered way
  • Wolfish: dehumanized and predatory
• Dickens's description of the children is based on his experience visiting a ragged school in London in 1846
• In the novella, the Ghost of Christmas Present warns about the dangers of Ignorance and Want
• Dickens emphasizes the importance of education in breaking the cycle of poverty
• Education is portrayed as a tool to help individuals climb out of poverty and provide for their families
• Dickens criticizes the neglect by the state in providing education for impoverished children