"A Christmas Carol" as an Allegory.

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“A Christmas Carol” as an Allegory

I read and studied “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Dickens was born on the 7th of February 1812 at Portsea in Hampshire. He had eight brothers and sisters who all lived with their parents, John and Elizabeth Dickens. John Dickens worked in a series of different places and had to constantly move houses to avoid paying his debts. However, these were probably the high points of Charles’ childhood as they were soon shipped back to London where his father’s debts became worse. Charles had to leave school early and work to try and help his dad’s financial problems. Nevertheless, John Dickens was arrested and sent to Marshalsea, a prison for debtors, and soon after, the rest of the family followed him. As John’s mother died in 1824, they were released from prison but spent the rest of their lives worrying about returning there. Charles resumed his school education and achieved the role of a clerk for a solicitor.

Charles started his writing career by publishing short stories in local magazines and newspapers. It wasn’t until the 1840s that he started writing “A Christmas Carol”. During this time, the area in which he lived was polluted with poverty. This was also the time when new laws were enforced to provide better living conditions for children. Among these laws, was one, which made education obligatory for children under 13. According to this law, every child under 13 must attend school for at least two hours a day. Even though circumstances were improving for children, they were not for workers. London, the capital of England, lacked housing and sewage amenities. The surplus population was not helping either. This was due to people moving to cities from the countryside in search of work. It was not a nice era to live in, but it gave Dickens inspiration, which is shown in his work; in “A Christmas Carol”, the poverty is shown on the streets:

“…some labourers were repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a great fire in a brazier, round which a party of ragged men and boys were gathered…”

Charles Dickens has tried to show us how it was to live in those dark days and so has used allegory in his work. This is where the writer chooses to use characters to represent something in his work. For example in “A Christmas Carol”, Fred, Scrooge’s nephew, is used to represent happiness whereas Scrooge himself is used to represent evil, hatred and ignorance.

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The novel is about an evil and cold-hearted man who goes by the name of Ebenezer Scrooge. We also read about Jacob Marley, who was Scrooge’s business partner until he died. Scrooge does not see the purpose of Christmas and so is visited by Marley’s ghost. He tells Scrooge that he must change his attitude unless he wants to end up like him, wrapped up in chains. Scrooge is visited by three ghosts, the ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet to come. The ghosts show him what has taken place in the past, what is happening at the ...

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