Social Injustice

Question 1

Charity men visiting Scrooge quotes

Answer 1

• “many thousands are in want of common necessaries”
• “are there no prisons?”
• “many cannot go there and many would rather die”

Question 2

Point of the charity men

Answer 2

• makes a clear divide in society and desperate it is
• makes reader feel sympathy for the poor
  = makes the “treadmill” and “workhouses” sound awful as government provision by saying people would “rather die” than go there
• shows horror and cruelty of this train of thinking that the poor deserve their situation as punishment
• use of “surplus” implies they offer no value to society
  = dehumanises them

Question 3

Marley’s whost advice to Scrooge

Answer 3

• “mankind was my business”
• “charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence were all my business”

Question 4

Point of marley’s ghost advice

Answer 4

• makes the point clear that humanity is to understand the situation of those around you
• this is what makes humanity and life worth living and good
  = if you don’t do this dickens implies you’ll be punished in the afterlife by seeing the pain people are in but not being able to help them

Question 5

Describe the bobs workplace

Answer 5

• “in a dismal cell beyond”
• “the clerks fire was so very much smaller”

Question 6

Point of bobs smaller office

Answer 6

• symbolically the term “cell” suggests the poor are trapped in their lives
• fire symbolises warmth, love and necessities in life
• he is meagre and controlled by Scrooge
  = shows who has power in society

Question 7

The cratchitt’s gratefulness for food quote

Answer 7

• “eked out by the apple sauce and mashed potatoes it was a sufficient dinner for the whole family”

Question 8

Point of their attitude towards their meal

Answer 8

• the poor don’t have enough but are shown to never complain or be miserable about their situation
  = dickens shows the poor as entirely good and deserving to counter the narrative that the poor are sinful or criminal

Question 9

Ignorance and want quote

Answer 9

• “this boy is ignorance. This girl is want. Beware of them both…but most of all beware of this boy for on his brow I see that written which is Doom.”

Question 10

Point of ignorance and want

Answer 10

• symbolically they represent the poor and the rich and both seem intertwined and suffering
  = result of the current social climate
• he says beware “ignorance” most of all because this is the ignorance of the rich to the situation of the poor and the reality of the lives they face
• by ignoring it the whole society suffers because he sees “doom” in the future
• grotesque language
  = children have lost innocence and purity
  = implies we’re creating monsters in society by ignoring the poor
  = lead to people acting inhumane, selfish and animalistic in order to survive which isn’t good for anyone