Historical Context Flashcards
Victorian London
Migration from Europe prompted a population growth from one million in 1800, to almost seven million in 1900. London transformed into the biggest city in the world. It was a global capital for trade, finance, and politics. However, while the rich prospered, the poor lived in unsanitary conditions and suffered the effects of low wages, malnutrition, and overcrowding.
The Great Reform bill 1832
Despite granting many middle-class people the right to vote, the working classes were left unable to vote. It was a requirement to own property to be given suffrage.
The Poor Law amendment Act 1834
One aim of this law was to reduce the cost of looking after those in poverty. People without the means to support themselves were forced to the workhouse, to inhumane and dangerous conditions.
Workhouses
Those without employment or the means to feed themselves were forced to go to the workhouse, where they were made to do hard labour with little food and without pay. Conditions inside workhouses were intended to be harsher than conditions outside, to deter people from relying on the government for support.
The industrial revolution
Industrialisation marked a shift to powered, special purpose machinery, factories and mass production.
Ragged schools
These schools were established to provide poor children with an education. Dickens was a sponsor of the Ragged Schools, giving his money and time to the movement. Within weeks of first visiting a Ragged School, Dickens had created A Christmas Carol, and it is widely thought that the ‘wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable’ children ‘Ignorance’ and
‘Want’ are based on children of the Ragged Schools.
Dickens and Christmas
Christmas in Victorian times was not widely celebrated; not everyone shared family meals and exchanged gifts. Dickens has been acknowledged as an influence in the way we celebrate Christmas today: his vivid descriptions of family gatherings and lavish festive feasts have become an integral part of modern-day festivities. Christmas was a one-day holiday. Cards were not exchanged until 1846, and the first Christmas cracker appeared in 1850.
Religion
Throughout the Victorian era, England was a Christian country.
The Christian messages are clear throughout A Christmas Carol. The novella is full of messages of love, hope, and charity.
What was Thomas Malthus’ ideology?
Thomas Malthus believes that the only way to keep the poulation from exploding is to keep the working class poor. Malthus believes that if the poor are kept poor they will not be able to breed and have children. This will therefore mean that the population will stay at a fixed number.
How does Scrooge echo Thomas Malthus’ ideology?
Scrooge is the voice of Malthus in the novel. We can see this through their views of population growth. We can see this when scrooge says that they had better die ‘ and decrease the surplus population’. This clearly shows the similarities in their viewpoints as Malthus also believes that the population must be kept low. Scrooge and Malthus both dehumanise people and just see them as numbers.
Thomas Malthus ideology in relation to resources
The more the population increases the more the resources are stretched and have to be shared out. Eventually there will be a breaking point which will be people dying due to famine. Therefore in order to stop this we must keep the poor poor and therefore stope them frin reproducing.
