ACC context

• Industrial revolution


  - time of immense change between 1760-1840

  - change from farming to factories

  -Positives: more job opportunities, increased production, efficiency, and migration

  - however the industrial revolution provided more benefits for the upper class than the lower

  - negatives: the industrial revolution meant that the class divide was exacerbated with the lower classes being subject to dangerous and dehumanising conditions -> the hours were long and hard and even children as young as 4 or 5 were forced to work in these conditions
• how does industrial revolution link to novella?

  Dickens is critical of the industrial revolution and the overzealousness (obsessiveness) of money that was a by-product of the revolution -> he was particularly scathing of the idea of Britain being the pinnacle of excellence when it neglected the most vulnerable. he makes scrooge personify the capitalist greedy mindset towards money and the willingness to let the poor be exploited. he highlights how capitalism has replaced compassion in society leading it to be a place filled with misery
• Charles Dickens and the poor

  - dickens was extremely empathetic towards the poor and their suffering

  - dickens himself grew up in poverty -> he first hand experienced the mistreatment and exploration of the poor

  - he was passionate about giving the poor a voice through his fictional novellas

  - he was a social critic who understood that the poor was mistreated not because of laziness, but because of the abuse of authoritarian powers

  - critic G.K Chesterton characterised Dickens as "the spokesman of the poor"

  - ACC was written by dickens in response to the children's employment commission which covered the dehumanising and exploitative conditions children were subject to in the victorian era

  - he first wrote a pamphlet to try and spread awareness about the plight of the poor

  - he then turned this into a novella as he was aware that his fictional tales would galvanise more support for the poor as it would reach a larger readership
• how to link dickens and the poor to the novella

  the Cratchits and Tiny Tim's death are characters Dickens has constructed to carry this message about the exploitation of the poor. Bob was exploited by scrooge, his superior in the workforce, whilst tiny Tim was left to die due to the neglection he faced from society. dickens debunks the commonly help stereotype that the poor were lazy through the cratchits. he highlights how compassion towards the plight of the poor will solve poverty, not punishing the poor
• Thomas Malthus


  - malthus was an influential British economist

  - he believed that poverty was an inevitable consequence to the increasing population

  - as there was an increasing population, this mean that there was an increase in food demand

  - as this food demand could not be met, it would mean that individuals would have to starve

  - he also makes scrooge have hyperbolic views towards Christmas and the poor through scrooge referencing the poor as the 'surplus population.' he shows throughout the novella, the detrimental effect of having an ignorant Malthusian mindset and vilifies it through the presentation of scrooge at the beginning of the novella
• how to link thomas malthus to the novella

  Dickens political diatribe (criticism of the politics at the time) can be seen as an anti-Malthusian tale. he directly indicts the malthusian idea of the scarcity of supplies through he ghost of Christmas present who sits on a pile of food and symbolises abundance
• the 1834 poor law

  - in 1834 'the new poor law' was introduced which caused the introduction of the workhouses

  - the poor were sent to workhouses, which were intended to be there to provide shelter and food for the poor in exchange for work. in practice, they were hubs of squalor which exploited the poor, splitting up families and making young children work in these belligerent conditions

  - estimated that 145,000 people died each year from working in the workhouses

  - 10% of people admitted to the workhouses would die including children

  - dickens himself was put into a workhouse in which he was separated from is family
• how to link the 1834 poor law to the novella

  the social commentator dickens condemned the dehumanising laws put in place for the poor such as 'the poor law'. he first hand experienced the belligerent conditions and aimed to criticise the humanity of such laws. he uses scrooge's ignorance to replicate the ignorance of the upperclass towards the poor: "are there no prisons? or union workhouses?" he also uses the allegorical characters of ignorance and want to reinforce the plight of the poor, significantly the plight of the poor that the rich made them subject to
• Religion


  - victorian society was extremely religious, and its foundations were built on these very beliefs

  - redemption is instrumental in christianity, with the belief that god provides individuals with redemption whens sin has been confessed

  - another pivotal idea is salvation for example the salvation of mankind from Jesus due to his resurrection -> Jesus returned to save mankind from its sins
• religion linked to novella

  redemption and salvation is pivotal in scrooge's transformation. his redemption and salvation is seen in stave 5 when he is reborn into a "baby", showing how he has been redeemed from his sins and given another chance. scrooge at the beginning of the novella embodies the 7 deadly sins, wrath and pride. he is greedy for more materialism and is parsimonious when trying to preserve his already acquired wealth. he is wrathful and angry towards the generosity and jubilance of others, especially at Christmas. lastly, he holds a lot of pride regarding his miserable persona -> he does not want others to see him vulnerable and joyous, hence persists in up-keeping this image