Context Flashcards
What is the acronym for context?
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What does the CRIPT acronym stand for?
Charles Dickens
Religion
Industrial Revolution
Poor Law
Thomas Malthus
Charles Dickens
-Charles Dickens grew up in poverty and worked in workhouses
-Novella was written is response to the Report of Childrens Employment Commission which covered the dehumanising and exploitative conditions children were subject to in the Victorian Era
e.g.
-The struggles of thr Cratchits is presented in a compassionate way
-Tiny Tim’s death links to the exploitation of children during the era
Religion
Religion was the foundation of morality in the Victorian era (7 deadly sins are to be avoided). Christians believed that god provides individuals with redemption when sin has been confessed
e.g.
-Scrooge embodies some of the 7 deadly sins: greed, wrath and pride
-Scrooge granted redemption through the ghosts
Industrial Revolution
Change from farming to factories, marked the ‘progressive era’ due to advancements in technology
e.g.
-Dickens is scathing of Britain being the pinnacle of excellence and progression when it neglects and exploits the lower classes
-He uses the character of Scrooge to critique how ‘progressive’ Victorian soceity is
1884 Poor Law
Introduced workhouses, poor sent there in exchange for food and shelter. They were hubs of squalor (filth) which exploited the poor. 10% of people admitted to them would die.
e.g.
-Dickens shows ignorance of those who enforced laws like this one through Scrooge in stave 1
-Cratchits and Children of ignorance and want provide a small insight into how the poor were exploited and dehumanised by laws like this
Thomas Malthus
British economist who believed poverty was inevitable due to population increase
e.g.
-Dickens makes Scrooge embody Malthusian view and ridicules this
-Scrooge shows these views in stave 1: “prisons… and the workhouses?”
-He is ridiculed by the ghost of Christmas present in stave 3 “decrease surplus population”
