A Christmas Carol

• Poverty


  One of the most prevalent themes within the text
• Scrooge: '"Are there no prisons? ... And the Union workhouses?"'
• Scrooge is approached by two gentlemen collecting money for the poor, though Scrooge refuses to make a donation
• Scrooge


  • Displays an uncaring attitude towards the poor
  • Depicted as a miser who refuses to make a charitable donation to help those less fortunate than himself
  • Reveals his ignorance of the poor and he makes no distinction between the lower classes and criminals
  • Dickens uses Scrooge's support for prisons and workhouses to illustrate his flawed views on how to solve the issues of poverty
• Narrator: '"a dismal little cell"'
• Narrator: '"the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle"'
• Bob Cratchit


  • Plight of the poor is highlighted through his character
  • Used to underscore Scrooge's cruel and exploitative behaviour
  • Works in a "dismal little cell" suggesting a gloomy confinement from which he cannot escape, which could be viewed as a wider symbol of his poverty
  • In constant fear of losing his job and he is symbolic of the lower classes and their dependence on their employer
  • His situation depends on businessmen like Scrooge and so subsequently does the fate of his family
• Family and Relationships


  Dickens explores many ideas relating to family and relationships within A Christmas Carol
• Narrator: '"Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner"'
• Marley and Scrooge's relationship


  • Presented as one merely associated with business, rather than an affectionate friendship
  • Scrooge answerer Both his and Marley's name which illustrates their shallow relationship
• Narrator: '"Mrs Cratchit made the gravy... Master Peter mashed the potatoes... Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple-sauce..."'
• Cratchit family


  • Presented as a united family and they all join in with the preparation of their Christmas meal
  • Through Bob, Dickens underscores his message about the importance of family and its centrality to people's lives
• Tiny Tim: '"God bless us every one!"'
• Tiny Tim's quote


  • Dickens uses this quote to underscore his message of equal opportunity for "everyone"
  • Also used to convey the message everyone should look after one another and work towards a society where all members are treated more fairly
  • The Christian message of joy, peace and goodwill is also alluded to
• Transformation and Redemption


  Ideas relating to transformation and redemption are recurrent themes throughout the novella
• Scrooge: '"I am not the man I was"'
• Scrooge: '"I am light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am giddy as a drunken man"'
• Scrooge's transformation


  • Dickens presents Scrooge's transformation from avarice to benevolence
  • By the end of the novella, Scrooge has been transformed into a charitable philanthropist
  • Dickens conveys a universal message that everyone is capable of change, regardless of how impossible it may seem
  • His references to both the innocent ("angel", "schoolboy"), alongside the outwardly depraved ("drunken man") suggest he has found a connection to all people, despite their differences
• Scrooge: '"every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart"'
• Scrooge's contempt for Christmas


  • Dickens illustrates Scrooge's contempt and aversion towards Christmas at the beginning of the novella
  • Dickens has Scrooge use the imagery of Christmas, but subverts it to something grotesque
  • This contrasts with Scrooge's character embracing Christmas at the end of the novella
  • His violent and hyperbolic language here is in sharp contrast to his language at the end of the novella, which demonstrates his transformation as a character
• Death and Loss


  Death and loss are recurring ideas within A Christmas Carol
• Bob Cratchit: '"My little, little child!" cried Bob. "My little child!"'
• Bob Cratchit's grief


  • Dickens presents Bob as a devoted father and husband and his relationship with his children is shown as loving and affectionate
  • The repeated use of the personal pronoun "my" suggests a close bond
  • Bob's change in character due to Tiny Tim's predicted death, demonstrates his affection for his son and shows how the loss of a loved one can impact someone's life