context ACC

Question 1

industrial revolution

Answer 1

in the mid 1700s, the industrial revolution began which brought people into London to work in factories, abandoning rural farming life. TIR created huge numbers of jobs, but the worker lived in extreme poverty

Question 2

living conditions and dickens

Answer 2

many countries had terrible living conditions due to the exponentially increase population
city migrants ended up in slums rife with overpopulation and disease and suffering
children suffered the most from poverty, being exploited and exposed to danger
dickens experiences poverty and factory life as a child, and had to abandon school as his father was arrested for debt

Question 3

Malthus and dickens response

Answer 3

economist Thomas Malthus views that a growing population would alway result in a strain on food and therefore cause poverty
his solution was to not help the poor and allow them to die off, referring to them as surplus population.
dickens uses descriptions of abundance and ‘bustling shops’ to show there is no shortage, only uneven distribution. the ghost of Christmas present sits on ‘a kind of throne’ made of food to also present this abundance

Question 4

poor law and dickens response

Answer 4

1834 poor law reduced financial aid for poor by only giving aid if they were worked in workhouses. these were very unpleasant and featured futile means of exhaustion like the wheel to discourage the poor
dickens attacks the crueland uncaring attitude towards the poor through scrooge initially being cruel and showing these views.’if they should die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population’.

Question 5

generosity

Answer 5

dickens attacks selfish attitudes throughout the play through scrooge.
Marley says scrooge must “walk abroad his fellow men”

Question 6

education

Answer 6

dickens believed the solution to poverty was education as this would make people have a greater self respect and desire to improve their lives.
show in the children of ignorance and want

Question 7

religion

Answer 7

christianity had a strong influence on the lives of upper and middle class victorian britons. they thought they had to be abide by a strict moral code
dickens view was that to be a good christian, they should do good deeds for other people and be charitable rather than appear religious
dickens was anti sabattarian - he was against the resting on Sunday as it led to poor people having no food as the bakeries were closed.