Working Life In A Christmas Carol

Life in the Victorian Times were hard if you were poor.
“After the passing of the Great Reform Bill, the liberal Whig leadership struck a snag. Several years of depression put the conservative Tories back in power in 1841. Wages and living conditions grew steadily worse as the industrial revolution permitted the rise of great fortunes for owners and employers along with starvation and poverty for great numbers of the working classes.” (Earl Davis, The Flint and the Flame, Page 115)
Scrooge is a great example of the wealthy, who never gave to the poor and would rarely put money into charities. Dickens was appalled by the conditions the working class had to endure. “Dickens felt that self-interest, uncontrolled, subject to the passions and desires

As the scene closes, the undertaker holds out his hand to Scrooge, asking for a tip. Scrooge is reluctant to comply, but after some consideration, hands him one coin. When the undertaker shoves his hand closer, Scrooge hands him another coin. Scrooge then proceeds to take the coins off of Marley’s eyes and states “Tuppence is Tuppence” (Zemeckis, A Christmas Carol (2009).) Now that wasn’t an actual part in the original story, but I think it’s a perfect example of how Scrooge reacts towards giving away money. He never gave to the poor, paid his only worker, Bob Cratchit, a very small amount, and he even locked up the coal used to fuel the fire in order to save money. Scrooge’s only goal in life was to make more money. That’s how his engagement to Belle ended, he was too addicted to

“hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse.” “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!” (Dickens, Stave 4, Page 84) Finally, Scrooge changed for good. Stave 5, Scrooge has changed! He wakes up, and immediately begins to laugh. He is completely alive and a new person. He goes to dinner at his nephew’s house, and even raises Bob Cratchit’s salary. He becomes a second father to Tiny Tim, and even starts giving money to the poor. Scrooge is now a humble, kind, and thoughtful man. Scrooge was a terrible, terrible man. However, after a fantastic night of visions, he transforms into a better man. Patrick T. Reardon wrote in the National Catholic Reporter, that “A Christmas Carol isn’t about a sinner. It’s about a sinner who goes through a conversion experience. (Reardon, Patrick T. "The conversion of St. Scrooge." National Catholic Reporter, 18 Dec. 2015) He says that we are all like Scrooge, and we all have our Bah Humbug experiences; and like Scrooge, we need a conversion in some way. Scrooge is in all of us, but it’s what we do to try and change ourselves that’s makes the story have a happy