19th Century London in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
'A time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer'
this is a good example that represents Scrooges overall attitude to
Christmas and those who celebrate it.
The central character of a Christmas Carol is Ebenezer Scrooge a man
portrayed by Dickens as a miser who cares little for others around
him, a man whose only interest in life is money that can be made from
exploiting other people.
The novel is set in Victorian London in the 19th century, a London
that is very different to the London we know today; there was no
welfare state, National Health Service or environmental laws. Real
poverty existed and those that had no money either starved or ended up
in the workhouses, debt prisons or turned to crime.
It is interesting that the novel is set during Christmas, a time that
is traditionally for giving, a time to be spent with the family, and a
time for reflection. Scrooge at the beginning of the novel does not
appreciate this, and calls everything ‘Humbug’, and it is only through
his visits with the ghosts that he realizes that pleasure can be found
from giving as well as receiving.
The picture that is painted by Dickens of life and the conditions in
which people lived is very depressing by today’s standards: ‘The ways
were foul and narrow; the shops and houses wretched; the people half
naked, drunken, slipshod, ugly. Alleys and archways, like so many
cesspools, disgorged their offences of smell, and dirt, and life, upon
the straggling streets; and the whole quarter reeked with crime, with
filth, and misery.’
Throughout the novel Dickens focuses on many different aspects and
issues about life in 19th century London. He o...
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... a year older, and not an hour richer' and he does not
believe in giving or supporting any charities and he does not believe
in goodwill. This is suggested in many different things Scrooge says
in the novel. ‘God bless you, merry gentlemen!’, ‘Scrooge seized the
ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror.’
This was said by Scrooge when he was visited by the carol singers, it
shows how much anger and hate Scrooge has towards Christmas and those
who celebrated it.
In conclusion, the image that one is left with from Dickens is a very
depressing one, one of dark, smelly, and polluted streets. Images of
poverty and hardship, and a society that cared little for the welfare
of others, where if you had money you could live comfortably, but if
you did not life was very tough. It is not a place where, I feel,
anyone today would like to live.
Explore how Dickens makes his readers aware of poverty in A Christmas Carol One of the major themes in "A Christmas Carol" was Dickens' observations of the plight of the children of London's poor and the poverty that the poor had to endure. Dickens causes the reader to be aware of poverty by the use and type of language he uses. He uses similes and metaphors to establish clear and vivid images of the characters who are used to portray his message. Dickens describes his characters like caricatures. Dickens exaggerates characters characteristics in order to make his point and provide the reader with a long living memory.
A Christmas Carol is presumably the most famous cost of fiction that Charles Dickens at any point composed.
Attitude Toward the Poor in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol Dickens encourages readers to change their views by showing what scrooge is like before, during and after the ghosts have visited him. " A Christmas Carol" is about a horrid old accountant and how people react around him on Christmas Eve. He is visited by 3 ghosts and they try and change his wicked ways. Dickens knows what it is like to work in factories because, as a child. he used to work in one, putting labels on shoe polish bottles.
...e seen as an adventurer or an entrepreneur trying to make good on his investment.
bitter old man who is unwilling to talk about the things that made him the way he is.
job. He owns very little material goods but has an insatiable appetite for luxury and
Dickens' A Christmas Carol and the Industrial Revolution Besides being the secular story of Christmas time in an urban setting, A Christmas Carol, tells the sacred story of Christmas as well. With A Christmas Carol, Dickens initiated an ongoing creative process in the Anglo-American imagination. As a result of the Industrial Revolution and the growth and development of cities people's lives changed drastically as they moved from the life and traditions of the country into those of the city. As industrialization continued, for many people in the city living and working conditions worsened. As reports of horrible working conditions increased so did the literature of social concern for reform..
unhappy man whose only wish is to make the rest of the world as sad as
It is hard to believe that there is anyone on the planet that hasn't heard of the story "A Christmas Carol". Although it isn't hard to believe that people do not realize that there are differences between movies and novels. In this case, that fits right into that subject. Here are some of the differences between the movie and the novel.
being seduced to. It has been said by many at the time that sex was
jobless individual, but, is truly a hard-working man who is devoted to his wife and kids; his
In the timeless tale, A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens focuses upon the extreme transformation of a character named Ebenezer Scrooge. The fact that several moralistic themes can be applied throughout the novel confirms why it is a classic.
Charles Dickens wrote the novel A Christmas Carol because he believed that he can have an influence on the situation in England in the 19th century(Bio). He included the character’s greed and want that are a part of Scrooge during his visits with the Ghosts of Christmas.
History has not only been important in our lives today, but it has also impacted the classic literature that we read. Charles Dickens has used history as an element of success in many of his works. This has been one of the keys to achievement in his career. Even though it may seem like it, Phillip Allingham lets us know that A Tale of Two Cities is not a history of the French Revolution. This is because no actual people from the time appear in the book (Allingham). Dickens has many different reasons for using the component of history in his novel. John Forster, a historian, tells us that one of these reasons is to advance the plot and to strengthen our understanding of the novel (27). Charles Dickens understood these strategies and could use them to his advantage.
Charles Dickens' Picture Of Childhood in Victorian Times Great Expectations is set in early Victorian England, a time when great social changes were sweeping the nation. The Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries had transformed the social landscape, enabling capitalists and manufacturers to amass huge fortunes. Although social class was no longer entirely dependent on the circumstances of one's birth, the divisions between rich and poor remained nearly as wide as ever. London, a teeming mass of humanity, lit by gas lamps at night and darkened by black clouds from smokestacks during the day, formed a sharp contrast with the nation's sparsely populated rural areas. More and more people moved from the country to the city in search of greater economic opportunity.