,A Christmas Carol
Revision Notes
GCSE
,A Christmas Carol
Context
Dicken’s Life
• The Cratchit house is based on Dicken’s own home growing up, which perhaps explain
why the narration is sympathetic towards the Cratchit family and idealises them to such
an extent
• The negative aspects of Dicken’s childhood is mirrored through his character Scrooge,
through the Ghost of Christmas Past the reader is able to witness Scrooge’s own
childhood, he is described to be “a lonely boy” who “read near a feeble fire”, this causes
the reader to sympathise with him and also understands how his childhood experience
shaped him
The Industrial Revolution
• For people to find work they have to move away from the countryside and into the cities
as there is where the industry and jobs were concentrated, this caused the formation of
cramped housing in order to accommodate (fit) the “surplus population”
• It also meant that many workers were needed to run the factories and the cheapest way
to do this was through child labour, the working age of a child stated at only five years old
and many children were uneducated, families needed their children to work so they would
afford the cramped living conditions, as children were working this meant most were
unable to go to school
Poverty and Charity
• In 1834 ‘The New Poor Law’ was introduced which stated that for the poor to receive
money and support they must go to the workhouses which were essentially harsh and
unforgiving prisons
• Some thought that a way to solve the issue of poverty was through charity, this is showed
iin the in the novella by the two “portly gentlemen”, however many also believed that
charity made poverty worse as it was rewarding the ‘bad behaviour’ (deserved to live in
poverty because they were lazy->should not given any sort of charity)
, charity made poverty worse as it was rewarding the ‘bad behaviour’ (deserved to live in
poverty because they were lazy->should not given any sort of charity)
Education and Childhood
• In 1833 ‘The Factor Act on Child Labour’ was put into effect which meant that children
had to be at least 9 years old to work
• Ragged schools: they were created to not only prove a basic education to poor children
but also to supply their material needs, before this time only the rich went to school->boys
were sent to boarding school while upper class girls were expected to stay at home and
do domestic work
Religion and Christmas
• Victorian society is considered to be very conservative and has many rules in order to
consider themselves as good Christians, some of the rules included going to church
every Sunday, giving to charity and not working on Sunday, known as Sabbatarianism
• Sabbatarianism: the Ghost of Christmas Present sprinkles the people with water “from his
torch” and demonstrates Dickens’ opposition to keep Sunday free from work->Scrooge
asks the Ghost why he “should desire to cramp these people’s opportunities of innocent
enjoyment”, by closing places such as restaurants in the “seventh day”, the poor who
were likely to work long hours during the week, would have very little opportunities to
enjoy themselves->Dickens was anti-Sabbatarianism and believed that the poor should
be able to enjoy their Sunday as they already had fewer chances to do so than the upper
class
Revision Notes
GCSE
,A Christmas Carol
Context
Dicken’s Life
• The Cratchit house is based on Dicken’s own home growing up, which perhaps explain
why the narration is sympathetic towards the Cratchit family and idealises them to such
an extent
• The negative aspects of Dicken’s childhood is mirrored through his character Scrooge,
through the Ghost of Christmas Past the reader is able to witness Scrooge’s own
childhood, he is described to be “a lonely boy” who “read near a feeble fire”, this causes
the reader to sympathise with him and also understands how his childhood experience
shaped him
The Industrial Revolution
• For people to find work they have to move away from the countryside and into the cities
as there is where the industry and jobs were concentrated, this caused the formation of
cramped housing in order to accommodate (fit) the “surplus population”
• It also meant that many workers were needed to run the factories and the cheapest way
to do this was through child labour, the working age of a child stated at only five years old
and many children were uneducated, families needed their children to work so they would
afford the cramped living conditions, as children were working this meant most were
unable to go to school
Poverty and Charity
• In 1834 ‘The New Poor Law’ was introduced which stated that for the poor to receive
money and support they must go to the workhouses which were essentially harsh and
unforgiving prisons
• Some thought that a way to solve the issue of poverty was through charity, this is showed
iin the in the novella by the two “portly gentlemen”, however many also believed that
charity made poverty worse as it was rewarding the ‘bad behaviour’ (deserved to live in
poverty because they were lazy->should not given any sort of charity)
, charity made poverty worse as it was rewarding the ‘bad behaviour’ (deserved to live in
poverty because they were lazy->should not given any sort of charity)
Education and Childhood
• In 1833 ‘The Factor Act on Child Labour’ was put into effect which meant that children
had to be at least 9 years old to work
• Ragged schools: they were created to not only prove a basic education to poor children
but also to supply their material needs, before this time only the rich went to school->boys
were sent to boarding school while upper class girls were expected to stay at home and
do domestic work
Religion and Christmas
• Victorian society is considered to be very conservative and has many rules in order to
consider themselves as good Christians, some of the rules included going to church
every Sunday, giving to charity and not working on Sunday, known as Sabbatarianism
• Sabbatarianism: the Ghost of Christmas Present sprinkles the people with water “from his
torch” and demonstrates Dickens’ opposition to keep Sunday free from work->Scrooge
asks the Ghost why he “should desire to cramp these people’s opportunities of innocent
enjoyment”, by closing places such as restaurants in the “seventh day”, the poor who
were likely to work long hours during the week, would have very little opportunities to
enjoy themselves->Dickens was anti-Sabbatarianism and believed that the poor should
be able to enjoy their Sunday as they already had fewer chances to do so than the upper
class
