context in a christmas carol Flashcards
By 1843, when the novel was published, the Industrial Revolution had transformed British society, breaking down old social structures, as people moved on a massive scale from the countryside to urban areas.
The first commercially available Christmas card was produced in 1843. It depicts three generations of a family sitting at a table and raising a toast. On either side it shows acts of charity, with food and clothing being given to the poor. Noticeably absent is any reference to Christianity.
With no safety net (social security, NHS) for those without money, many people relied on charity. In addition, Dickens disagreed with the 1834 Poor Laws as he felt that they did not do enough to protect poor people
There were extremes of poverty and wealth in society; industrialisation led to a growing, prosperous middle class, living alongside the urban poor.
In 1798 economist Thomas Malthus published his theory that England would soon become overpopulated and unable to feed its people. He called the poor ‘surplus’ and believed that if people could not support themselves then they should be left to die. His theory was still taken seriously by some in 1843.
Many Christmas traditions that are still central to the festival today (giftgiving, tree, cards, turkey etc.) developed in the Victorian period. Dickens played a key role in popularising some of these traditions and Christmas as a whole.
what were the 1840s also known as
the hungary fortys
what happened in 1843 with the poor amenment law
in 1843 the poor amendmet law act was paased by parliment.THis was designed to reduce the cost of looking after the poor as it stopped money going to poor people except in the exceptionalcicumstances. Now if people wnated help they hadto go into a work house tro get it
