context

Question 1

Industrial Revolution in Stave 1

Answer 1

• ‘Hard and sharp as flint’ :: blacksmithing image, reveals harsh and unsanitary environment
• ‘the fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole,’ :: bleak weather may also show the coldness of scrooges character, and the fog of what he can’t see, and how he is ignorant to those around him

Question 2

Poor Amendment Law in Stave 3

Answer 2

Poor amendment law 1834
- sending the poor to prisons
- workhouses
- post-industrial revolution class inequality gap widening
- Having a childhood concept didn’t exist but then Victorians came up with it

Question 3

Thomas Malthus & Malthusian Law in Stave 3

Answer 3

• He believed that in order to build a happy and fulfilled society was held back when the population increased to the point where the amount of money and food available cannot sustain them

Question 4

Poor

Answer 4

• Dickens wanted to change the attitudes of his middle class Victorian readers to the poor. They would have never been in the home of a working poor family - so he takes them to the cratchit’s house
• The situation his parents faced is referenced in stave 4 - Caroline’s fears for her family are those Dickens mother face before her financial ruin
• Immense poverty in the Victorian era. The Cratchits’ actions of being hardworking and being down to earth helps create a different image of the lower working class to the upper class that they are not lazy or immoral. It helps the readers understand the harsh conditions of the poor and inspire them to treat others with kindness

Question 5

Impact on the audience

Answer 5

• Dickens wants to express his faith in humanity, and that wealth and money mean nothing, but love and relationships are most important
• Dickens shows that there is potential for people to change, and that treating others nicely is important

Question 6

Inequality upper and lower classes

Answer 6

Dickens directly targets the upper and middle classes during the Industrial revolution. As he was more aware of the dark and cruel effects, like inequality that was exacerbated and entrenched in society, he teaches and makes the readers feel guilty for exploiting their workers. This signifies the reader the importance of shared responsibility while condemning the ignoring actions of the wealthy.

Question 7

Church and Christianity

Answer 7

• According to the Bible, Jesus went to a village and saw a man born blind, so helped him by patting mud on his eye and washing it off. Tiny Tim is inspired through Jesus’ actions of helping the helpless which makes him a very thoughtful for his age.
• As the Victorians were devout Christians, Dickens uses the idea of generosity, kindness, and giving to teach the audience a lesson and makes those aware of their actions