ACC Context/Purpose

Question 1

Background to Dickens writing ACC?

Answer 1

• tradition for ghost stories at Christmas
• post-industrial revolution society
  Poverty was a big problem
  Poor Law 1834 - workhouses were introduced as a ‘solution’ to poverty
  Adults and children worked long hours in dangerous conditions
• Dicken’s childhood
  Cratchit household based on his own childhood
  His father had financial difficulties - put in a debtor’s prison
  Lived very close to the workhouses and heard stories from inside
  His disabled nephew was the inspiration behind Tiny Tim

Question 2

His method

Answer 2

Originally going to write a pamphlet on social justice but thought a story would be a better way to convey his message
- people don’ like being told they are wrong or nasty!
Decided on a novella (short and sweet)
- wasn’t a lecture
- easy to read and available to everyone
Released the staves 1 by 1 in newspapers, making the reader excited for the next one

Question 3

Dicken’s intentions/purposes

Answer 3

Christmas should be a time of peace and goodwill - no matter someone’s social status

He used stark contrast between rich and poor to comment on this real life problem in Victorian England
- criticised the poor laws and workhouses

He was socially concious and sympathetic to the lower class
- after experienced poverty first hand

Promoted education as a way out of poverty
- offered a solution to allow reader to believe things can be done

Question 4

Marxism

Answer 4

Karl Marx = huge fan of Dicken’s work
- wanted to create a classless society through communism
- both sympathetic towards poor
- Marx’s solution was extreme
- Dicken’s solution through compassion and generosity

Question 5

Christianity

Answer 5

19th century Britain was mainly Christian
Dickens highlights many Christian values and includes biblical references
- forces the reader to question whether their behaviour and actions towards the poor align with Christian beliefs
- eg. One significant symbol = light

Question 6

Thomas Malthus (wealthy background)

Answer 6

Argued that their was a population crisis
- his solution was that the poor, useless people to society should die out
Dickens uses the unlikable character of Scrooge to criticise Malthus’s beliefs
- “if they would rather die then they had better do it and decrease the surplus population”

Question 7

Why does Dickens use FEAR?

Answer 7

Dickens creates fear for the audience after presenting the possibility of eternal misery caused by unkindness
“I wear the chains i forged in life”
In his PREFACE
- he says it was a “ghost of an idea” and “may haunt their houses pleasantly”
- suggests the book will have an impact and impose fear - but only for the better
He wanted to unsettle his readers to provoke the urgency to change
- but without telling people off

Question 8

Contrasting characters
(more on this in character studies)

Answer 8

All the characters in this play are an example of hyperbole
- they are either GOOD or BAD, there is no in between
- this extends the contrast

Fezziwig show us that nice employers exist, sets an example

Cratchits act as a bridge between rich and poor - they are so likeable they get the reader onside, and humanise the lower class

Fred is the complete opposite to Scrooge and is impossibly perfect - he sets an example and his wealth allows the upper class to relate to him and aspire to be him

Scrooge is impossibly horrible - although he is rich the wealthy readers will naturally dislike him, he shows up the reader’s own flaws