In “A Christmas Carol” Dickens shows clearly that there is a definite class distinction between the poor and the rich. Predictably, poverty and ignorance flourished, driving a deep wedge between the richest and poorest classes in England. At one extreme, wealthy businessmen and royalty operated with virtually unlimited financial resources, at the other end of the scale, beggars roamed the streets, and working class ghettoes arose in the filth of decay and urban neglect. Class divisions became a symbol of the Victorian age. The rich and the poor kept their distance, and often looked upon the other with mutual suspicion and loathing. The Victorian conception of poverty allowed for little compassion. The poor were generally considered to be of inferior moral character.
In “A Christmas Carol” the character Jacob Marley introduced the message that Dickens wanted to get across. Dickens wanted to educate the rich that good deeds need to be done to help the poor. Dickens did this as he knew it would be the wealthy who would read his novel. Marley’s words to Scrooge “mankind was my business” was an effective way for Dickens to show the reader that Marley is trying to tell Scrooge that something needs to be done to stop the hardship the poor are suffering. He is saying this, as in life he had failed to help those in need so he was doomed to do so after death. “I wear the chain I forged in life.” Dickens mentions that it is not only individual phantoms such as Marley who may be guilty of not treating the poor with respect “they may be guilty governments.” Dickens tries to portray to the reader that if people, whether individual or as a group, do not help the less fortunate during life they will forever suffer the consequences. “The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.”
In the character of Scrooge, Dickens addresses the issues of the proper roles of money and work in life. In “A Christmas Carol” Ebenezer Scrooge has lost his only friend, his business partner Jacob Marley. Seven years have passed since Marley's death, and Scrooge has not changed a bit. He still refuses to give to the poor, suggesting that for them perhaps the only place better than prison is the grave. “A Christmas Carol” turns upon the issue of redemption, perhaps the most influential of Dickens’ themes. Scrooge is a terrible man who is fortunate enough to view his bleak life in harsh relief. Like many of Dickens’ main characters, Scrooge seizes the chance to start again, and remakes himself as Dickens undoubtedly believed that he had done.
One of the most powerful themes of “A Christmas Carol” is the poverty the poor suffered. Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” to try and bring about a moral change in society. He was doing this as he had endured first hand experience of poverty. Dickens was trying to help the poor by creating an image of the conditions and suffering of the poor for the rich to see. Even though there were some people called philanthropists who helped the poor, Dickens still wanted to help them as he did not feel that enough was being done. Examples of philanthropists were Andrew Carnegie, George Peasbody, Burdett Cuts, Thomas Barnardo, Anthony Ashley Copper and Earl Shaftsbury These people helped the poor by building the poor libraries, donating money for housing, creating ragged schools and campaigning in parliament for their conditions to improve.
In “A Christmas Carol” Dickens expresses philanthropy when Scrooge is visited by two men who ask him for money “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute.” Scrooge’s reply shows his attitude to the poor “are there no prisons ?” “and the union workhouse ?” Scrooge’s words described the common places that the poor were usually sent to. Dickens felt that the poor laws of 1834 were cruel, unfeeling and brought about misery. Factory owners saw the advantage and unashamedly exploited employees which was a direct result of the poor law. Scrooge believed that the poor deserved their fate and that the remedies for poverty provided by the work houses and prisons were sufficient. Dickens showed through Scrooge that the well off believed that they were doing enough. “The treadmill and poor law are in full vigour then?” Scrooge also showed that he believed he was doing his duty to help the poor when he said to the philanthropists “I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough” Scrooge goes on to support his views previously mentioned by stating that “and those who are badly off must go there.” The quotes clearly show that Scrooge is cold hearted, uncaring and selfish. His cold heartedness is even more clearly seen with his words “If they would rather die they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population” and with that Scrooge “resumed his labours with an improved opinion of himself.” Dickens emphasis the powerfulness of his message in an effective way as “A Christmas Carol” is set at Christmas time which is the season of goodwill and everyone is meant to be joyous and generous.
In the character of Bob Cratchit Dickens provides an opposite to Scrooge’s values. Dickens tries to show in the novel that money, class and rank are unreliable guides to determining a human beings worth. Bob Cratchit’s priorities are properly focused on family, love and companionship.
Scrooge’s attitude is in complete contrast with the Cratchit family “the Cratchit’s danced around the table.” This implies that the Cratchit’s are happy and joyful even though they are poor. By expressing the reactions of the Cratchit family Dickens shows that the poor can be jubilant and jolly even though they are suffering poverty. Dickens shows that Christmas could be enjoyed when avarice and greed are forgotten. Even though they are poor the Cratchit children showed they could still enjoy themselves and show excitement “two smaller children came tearing in, screaming that they had smelt the goose outside the bakers and known it for their own.” Dickens also writes about the fun that the Cratchit family enjoyed “after a while they played at forfeits for it is good to be children at Christmas” even though the children are poor.
Dickens illustrates how Scrooge’s approach to poverty has transformed over time. During the visit to Scrooge by the ghost of Christmas Past Scrooge is re-united with a young girlfriend from his time as a boy “a fair young girl in a mourning dress”. From the girl’s description of being in a mourning dress the reader is quickly aware that the girl is sad. The girl informs Scrooge that “another idol has displaced me.” and that there is now something more important than her in Scrooge’s life. When Scrooge questions her as to whom the idol is she replies “A golden one.” The reader would be astonished from Scrooge’s explanation that the dealings of the world are even handed “There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty” where Scrooge realises that poverty is a great hardship, however he continues the argument when he says “and there is nothing it professes to condemn with such severity as the pursuit of wealth.” The reader would see that Scrooge’s attitude in his later years contravene those of his early life when he is a boy from the girl’s words “we were both poor and content to be so.” The girl has also noticed the change in Scrooge “you are changed.” Dickens shows the reader the effects of greed on a person. He shows that being obsessed with money and greed and the pursuit of wealth can affect relationships and physical features. “His face… had begun to wear the signs of care and avarice” and “There was an eager, greedy, restless motion in the eye.”
Dickens clearly describes the abject poverty of two deprived children during the visit to Scrooge by the ghost of Christmas Present. Dickens describes the children vividly using a long list of adjectives used metaphorically “wretched, frightful, hideous, miserable, yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish.” Their features instead of being filled out were instead “stale and shrivelled” and “twisted” in fact almost animal in appearance. Dickens is trying to get across here the message of poverty and how the appearance of poverty stricken children may be. Ragged schools were free schools often set up by philanthropists. The intention was for them to provide religious instruction and basic education for the poorest children. Dickens applauded the work of these schools but disapproved of providing religious education at the expense of a more practical one which would help the child to become a self sufficient member of society. Despite the availability of these schools most poor children remained uneducated due to the demand for child labour and the apathy of parents who were wretchedly poor and uneducated themselves. Dickens creatively introduces these children in “A Christmas Carol” through the use of the two children Ignorance and Want. “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both.” Scrooge is appalled when he sees these children and asks “Have they no refuge or resource?” Scrooge is answered in words he himself has used “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?” Scrooge at this instant realises how harshly he himself as well as other rich and wealthy people have treated the poor in 1843. In this extract Dickens is attempting to powerfully and passionately convey his feelings. Dickens is stating how strongly he feels towards helping the poor and helping the rich to overcome their ignorance. Dickens is trying to convey the message that Ignorance is the upper classes inability to recognise the effects of poverty on the poor and that Want is the basic need for human life. Dickens is also appealing to the reader to sympathise with the poor. It also shows the start of Scooge’s reformation.
The “Doom” that Dickens forewarns of is the potential for civil unrest caused by class divisions with the poor being badly treated. Around the time that “A Christmas Carol” was written many European countries didn’t have enough jobs for everyone and people were short of food. In 1848 a rebellion in Paris caused a year of revolutions throughout many European countries with the poor of these countries desperate to see an end to segregated societies and class division. Although the next year saw the revolutions crushed the rulers of the affected countries realised that they would have to pay more attention to their people in the future. Dickens was predicting a similar fate for England.
Dickens is also relying that the reader sympathises with his portrayal of Tiny Tim. The ghost of Christmas present warns Scrooge that without more money, the Cratchit family will lose its youngest and most fragile member Tiny Tim. Tiny Tim is a helpless victim of poverty. He is also an example of Dickens using pathos to influence his audience’s emotions and ensure their personal response to this text. Tiny Tim’s health will fatally deteriorate if his situation does not change. Dickens is showing here what the awful and logical conclusion of poverty will be. The conclusion of this is shown when Bob says “I am sure we shall, none of us will forget poor Tiny Tim.” From this Scrooge sees that Tiny Tim will die unless he is helped. At this point Scrooge realises after his reformation how harshly he has been treating his clerk, Bob. Dickens is showing the reader in general the severity of the poverty the poor suffer, due to the way the rich treat the poor and the effect it has on children.
In the last stave the reader sees the epiphany of Scrooge. The reader sees how Scrooge has changed from being bitter and cruel to the poor, to now being generous and benevolent. The reader sees this by the language Dickens uses. He uses similes to describe the reformed scrooge. “Happy as an angel …merry as a school-boy …giddy as a drunken man.” For Dickens poverty was the greatest evil and by the use of the character Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” he is providing a clear image that nobody is beyond redemption.
“A Christmas Carol” follows Scrooge’s journey from a miserly misanthrope to an enthusiastic philanthropist. Scrooge’s redemption takes him from somebody who believes the poor deserve what they get, to a belief that the remedies for poverty provided by law work-houses and prisons are not sufficient.
The novel provides a clear and detailed view about Dickens’ thoughts and beliefs on poverty, social class and the poor. Dickens believed that it was the duty of the wealthy to take responsibility for the prevention and cure of social ills such as poverty and the failure of society to look after the children of the poor. It is evident in many parts of “A Christmas Carol” that this is Dickens’ message.
Any person today would find it hard to be able to comprehend the appalling conditions and poverty of the poor in Dickens’ time. However, through “A Christmas Carol” Dickens has been able to portray the conditions effectively at the time in a thought provoking manner.
Class division is still evident in Britain today. There are still many homeless people, particularly in the larger cities such as London, who depend on the philanthropists of today helping them. There are also an ever increasing number of wealthy people due to there being many more commercial opportunities for people to make vast amounts of money such as from the stock markets, finance and the Internet. The divide between the rich and the poor is becoming greater and the warnings made by Dickens in “A Christmas Carol” still need to be heeded.
