eng lit ACC imported not good

• Charles Dickens


  English author born in 1812 who spent the first years of his life in Kent, England
• Charles Dickens' early life

  1. Moved to London at 9

  2. His father sent to debtors' prison at 12

  3. Given a painful job labelling bottles near the prison
• Charles Dickens found his early life experiences hellish, and it led him to draw readers' attention to the plight of the poor when he later found success as an author
• Many of Dickens' works are about social hardships and inequalities
• Victorian Era


  Period in which Queen Victoria sat on the English throne - between 1837 and 1901 (most of Dickens' life)
• Victorian Era

  • Time of industrial revolution, but also an extremely harsh time to live
  • Differences between the lives of the richest and the poorest were exacerbated
  • Period of great change - population of England doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to over 30 million in 1901
• Workhouses

  Places where people went if they could not afford to financially support themselves and their families
• Workhouses

  • Men, women and children (mostly orphans) lived and worked in them
  • Very crowded, making living conditions unhealthy and unpleasant
  • People slept in dormitories, where disease was easily spread
• In A Christmas Carol, Scrooge voices his support for workhouses
• Class Divides

  Despite industrial changes, there were still relatively distinct social classes: the nobility upper class, the middle class, and the working class
• Life for the poorest

  • Lack of money resulted in a negligible food supply
  • Some working families required their children to work in order to survive
• Health and Medicine in Victorian Era

  • The NHS was not established until much later so healthcare was not accessible for everyone, and medicine was nowhere near as advanced today
  • Many diseases were rife, and childbirth and poverty were very real dangers
• Life expectancy in Victorian Era

  • A middle class person may expect to live to 45
  • A working class person would have been lucky to have lived half that time
• In A Christmas Carol the restrictions in healthcare are evident in Tiny Tim's continued suffering
• The Poor Law

  • 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act passed by Parliament to reduce the cost of looking after the poor
  • Stopped money going to poor people except in exceptional circumstances
  • People had to go into a workhouse to get help
• The 19th Century consequently saw a growth in the numbers of charities such as The Salvation Army, Dr Barnardo's children's homes to help those living in poverty
• 'I will live in the Past, Present, and Future' - Scrooge
• 'A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!' - Scrooge
• 'God bless us every one!' - Tiny Tim
• "Scrooge was better than his word" - Dickens
• "God bless us every one!" - Cratchit family
• Dickens uses symbolism throughout the novel to convey meaning about society at the time.
• Scrooge is transformed from an old miser who cares only about himself to someone who has learned to care for others.
• Marley’s Ghost is a symbolic representation of death and the consequences of greed and selfishness.
• Dickens uses symbolism throughout the novella to convey his message about social inequality and the importance of compassion and kindness towards others.
• 'He wore an iron safe upon his heart.' - Fred