In a Christmas carol, how does Dickens make the reader aware of the conditions of the poor? How does he make his message palatable?

Authors Avatar

A Christmas Carol

In a Christmas carol, how does Dickens make the reader aware of the conditions of the poor? How does he make his message palatable?

    Charles Dickens wrote ‘A Christmas Carol’ with an obvious and important motive; he wanted to alert the English middle class citizens of the social crisis that surrounded them. He makes his readers sympathetic and he gives them a role model; Scrooge. Dickens wrote this character as a personification of selfishness, an old ‘miser’ who keeps his money to himself and a man who cringes at the word ‘charity’. His life is miserable, meaningless and lonely. That is, until he is visited by the three Christmas spirits. After these visits Scrooge changes his life and becomes more of a philanthropist. He becomes a happier man and his life suddenly had purpose. There is such a dramatic contrast between Scrooge’s two personalities that Dickens point in certainly made. And all this is masked behind a festive fairy tale.
   Dickens knew only too well of the awful lives the poor lead. Middle class readers either didn’t know about it or didn’t want to know about it. Dickens needed a way of letting them know about the poverty stricken parts of London and encourage them to do something about it. The trouble was that London’s problems were very easy to ignore, and so most people did just that. So Dickens decided to conceal his message in a tale of spirits, loving families and Christmas cheer. Dickens writes about filthy slums, prisons, sick children and poor families. But at the same time, he includes people keeping the spirit of Christmas alive. Dickens hoped that adding this festive touch to an otherwise dark novel, would appeal to his readers charitable conscience.

Join now!

     To make people aware of the conditions of the poor, Dickens used The Cratchit Family. The Cratchits are still loving and honest people despite having to endure a daily struggle for survival. This makes the reader warm to the family and makes them want to help the Cratchits. Dickens tries to make the reader feel sympathy towards the Cratchits. This is most obvious in the scene where Scrooge is taken by the Ghost of Christmas Present to see the Cratchits having a less than lavish Christmas dinner. Although they only have a small amount to share around a ...

This is a preview of the whole essay