Workhouse quote

• Scrooge: ''Are there no prisons?...And the union workhouses...are they still in operation?''
• Scrooge's response


  When asked by two gentlemen to donate to the poor, Scrooge believes he pays towards the institutions that help the poor and that should be enough
• Interrogative sentences


  • Highlight Scrooge's outrage at being asked for charity
  • Hint towards his immediately defensive nature
• The workhouse was a place where the Victorian poor were sent if they were unable to survive independently
• They would be fed and given a bed to sleep in in exchange for hard labour
• As Scrooge's taxes contribute to this provision, he feels he helps enough-despite conditions being poor with families separated from one another