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The Theme Of Poverty In A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens

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Charles Dickens own experiences of growing up in poverty in Victorian Era London, are likely to have pushed him to pursue the themes in his novel A Christmas Carol. His father was sent to prison for not paying his debts, which left Dickens the job of producing the family income at the age of 12, giving him a firsthand view of poverty and the struggles that come with it. These events seemingly effected Dickens greatly, and Dickens novels were likely his form of charitable work, as the messages scribed within, brought to light the vast disparity between the rich and poor in this era. Dickens shows clearly that there is a definite class distinction between the poor and the rich through the uses of his characters and their characteristic throughout …show more content…

Though Dickens doesn’t present wealth as an automatically negative idea in his novel. Rather, he creates a much more complex view of wealth which pushes the idea that it is not the possession of wealth by itself that leads to corruption, but it is the attitude that one has towards one wealth. Poverty and ignorance flourished in Victorian Era London, driving a deep wedge between the richest and poorest classes in England at the time. However, Dickens believed that the rich people in Britain should have changed their perception of life in order to help civilisation for the greater good of all. This is represented in A Christmas Carol in the character Jacob Marley. Marley is the instigator of the message that Dickens wanted to get across. Dickens wanted to educate the rich that good deeds need to be done to help the vulnerable. Present in Marley's words to Scrooge "mankind was my business", and “I wear the chain I forged in life", Dickens states the necessity to end the destitution of the poor, who are suffering. Marley says this, as in life he had failed to help those in need so he was doomed to do so after in death. “There is nothing on which it is as hard as poverty, and there is nothing on it professes to condemn with such severity as the pursuit of wealth” The …show more content…

This idea is greatly embedded in the Cratchit family, in particular Bob Cratchit. In the form of the character, Bob Cratchit, Dickens tries to represent that money, class and rank are unreliable guides to determining a human beings worth and happiness especially among those who have nothing. Further to this, Dickens explores the happiness and jovial spirits of the lower classes, represented in the acts of Bob Cratchit slaving away for a meagre earning to barely be able to feed his family. However, though despite this there is still shown a table that is full of hope and love represented fluently throughout the family. Bob Cratchit's priorities are properly focused on family, love and companionship. “A merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!” By capturing the responses of the Cratchit family Dickens shows that the poor can be jubilant and jolly even though they are suffering hardships. Dickens also writes about the Christmas spirit within the Cratchit family "after a while they played at forfeits for it is good to be children at Christmas" which is used to represent, not all in life has monetary value. Tiny Tim, the Cratchit’s crippled and vulnerable, yet equally loved child, “Bob held his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child and wished to keep him by his side”, is expressed by Dickens as a directive to the

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