During the book two gentlemen ask him for some money to help the poor.
‘‘They are suffering greatly at this present time.
Many thousands are cold and have no food,
and many have no home to go to.’’
The two gentlemen also mention the fact that there are plenty of prisons and workhouses for the poor. One of the gentlemen says,
‘‘I wish that so many were not needed.’’
Here Dickens’ indicates that a large number of the poor had to live in workhouses.
Dickens also describes working conditions for those who were lucky enough to have a job. Scrooge’s clerk, Bob Cratchit, worked for 364 days a year only getting one day off for Christmas. This shows the extent to which working class people needed work. Scrooge constantly reminded Bob Cratchit that he was lucky to be in work even though he earned less than one pound a week. Conditions were poor for Scrooge’s employees. Martha Cratchit also worked very long hours. She arrives at the Cratchit house on Christmas Day and says,
‘‘We had a great deal of work to finish in the shop last
night and we had to clear things away this morning’’
Dickens’ description of the Cratchit family Christmas provides some evidence about their way of life, for example,
‘‘Mrs Cratchit dressed in her best clothes which she
kept carefully from year to year….’’
‘‘Bob Cratchit’s clothes were brushed and mended to
look their best’’
When Scrooge is with the third of the three spirits, he visits a part of the city he has never been to before.
‘‘The streets were narrow and dirty, the shops
and the houses small and ugly. The narrow lanes
were full of dirt and bad smells. The whole place
smelt of dirt and unhappiness.’’
This is a direct description by Dickens’ of the kind of conditions he had seen in the city. He goes on to describe a shop where the poor took things to sell.
‘‘On the floor there were old keys,
nails, chains and broken iron things
of all kinds.’’
Dickens’ uses this description within the context of the story when a washerwoman and a cleaner woman bring some of Scrooge’s possessions to sell.
I think Dickens’ portrayal of life for the Victorian working class was accurate and seems to be written from personal experience. The book covers the lengths that some people went to to earn a few extra pounds. It went to the extent of selling a deceased love one or relative’s clothes and even curtains from their room. However the families are strong and loving and always seem to try and make the best out of the situation and appreciate what little they had, where as the richer members of society took things for granted, and in Scrooges case was lonely.
