3.1.1

Inequality, Ignorance & Want

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Social Inequality and Justice

Charles Dickens uses A Christmas Carol to address how much Victorian England ignored the poverty of the lower class. He felt that the suffering experienced by the lower class was wrong, especially when compared to the luxurious lives of the upper class.

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Highlights inequality

  • Dickens highlights social inequality in a number of ways:
    • The wealthy man, Scrooge, is cruel and refuses to help the poor.
    • He also almost attempts to make Cratchit work on Christmas Day. He is shown as being unkind and selfish.
    • The poor man, Cratchit, works hard but suffers because he is lower class. He is a good, kind-hearted man, but is doomed to live in poverty and watch helplessly as his child dies – unless the upper-class man helps him!
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Mood of the classes

  • However, Dickens shows the upper-class character (Scrooge) to be unhappy despite his station and wealth, whereas the lower-class family (the Cratchits) are nice, loving, kind people, despite having very little.
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Lesson to classes

  • Dickens attempts to show Victorian England that everyone’s lives can be improved if they help one another – Scrooge’s life is much more well-rounded when he starts giving to other people, whilst the Cratchits are much happier with a bit of support from Scrooge because it means their son can be healthier.
  • Both classes gain from working together.

Ignorance and Want

Dickens used the characters of Ignorance and Want (hidden under the robes of the Ghost of Christmas Present) to highlight a lot of the problems in the world.

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Allegories

  • “Two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable”.
  • These children are allegories of two social problems (they represent these problems in human form – this is also why their names have capital letters).
  • “They were a boy and a girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish”.
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Ignorance

  • Dickens uses Ignorance to chastise the Victorian reader, attempting to make them realise that they were ignoring the problems in their own society.
  • The readers then (and still somewhat now) were pretending to be ignorant about the problems faced by their fellow humans.
  • Scrooge is a good example of a man who ignores the huge social problems of the time.
  • Through the Ghost, Dickens tells the reader: “They are Man’s”, encouraging readers to take some responsibility for other people.
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Want

  • In Victorian England, a large proportion of the population was poor and, therefore, had to go without things (they ‘wanted for’ basic things like food and shelter).
  • Want, combined with Ignorance of the upper-classes, creates enormous social problems.
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Message for society

  • Dickens wanted to show that, by ignoring these issues, society would produce children like this – they are shown to be dirty, with no hope of a good future.
  • This could then lead children like this into a life of crime, which would cause even bigger issues for society: “Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing”.

Jump to other topics

1Plot Summary

1.1Plot Summary

1.1.1Outline

1.1.2Introducing Scrooge & Marley

1.1.3Stave 1

1.1.4Stave 2

1.1.5Stave 3

1.1.6End of Topic Test - Staves 1-3

1.1.7Stave 4

1.1.8Stave 5

1.1.9End of Topic Test - Staves 4-5

2Key Characters & Quotes

2.1Ebenezer Scrooge

2.1.1Outline & Stave 1

2.1.2Stave 2

2.1.3Stave 3

2.1.4Stave 4

2.1.5Stave 5 & Key Quotes

2.1.6End of Topic Test - Ebeneezer Scrooge

2.2Other Characters

2.2.1Bob Cratchit

2.2.2Tiny Tim

2.2.3Fred

2.2.4The Ghosts Pt 1

2.2.5The Ghosts Pt 2

2.2.6End of Topic Test - Other Characters

2.3Grade 9 - Key Characters

2.3.1Grade 9 - Key Characters

2.3.2Grade 9 - Extract Analysis

3Key Ideas

3.1Key Ideas

3.1.1Inequality, Ignorance & Want

3.1.2Duality, Family & Love

3.1.3Christianity & Redemption

3.1.4End of Topic Test - Key Ideas

3.1.5Grade 9 - Key Themes

4Context

4.1Context

4.1.1Dickens & Victorian England

4.1.2Poverty & Victorian Christmas

4.1.3Exam-Style Questions - Poverty

4.1.4Gothic Fiction

4.1.5Gothic Fiction & Victorian England

4.1.6End of Topic Test - Context

5Authorial Method

5.1Structure & Techniques

5.1.1Structure & Time

5.1.2Time Frame & Pace

5.1.3Narrative Voice & Tone

5.1.4Settings, Similes & Metaphors

5.1.5End of Topic Test - Authorial Method

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Grade 9 - Extract Analysis

Duality, Family & Love