Merry Christmas to all! I have finally pulled myself away from the gluttonous and lazy holiday life and have come to post for the holiday season. Granted, 'tis past Christmas day; however we are still in the midst of Christmastide (the Twelve Days of Christmas), which permits me to do so – joyously!I thought for this year's holiday season I would share a brief look at Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Dickens' classic Christmas ghost story has been popular ever since it was originally published in 1843, which is said to have sold six thousand copies within the first few days of its release. Every Christmas there is at two film versions shown on the television, and there are many local stage productions of this "little carol" put on every year.
On top of being a story of one man's redemption, A Christmas Carol is also a story that illustrates an important social situation in Victorian London. Like many of his other novels, such as Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickelby, A Christmas Carol focuses on the welfare of the impoverish people living in London, especially on the treatment of children. Many consider Dickens as a Victorian William Blake, a writer from the Romantic period who wrote and illustrated The Songs of Innocence and Experience that contain many poems like “The Chimney Sweep” that speak of the lives of children in city. According to records, in the year 1839 it was estimated “nearly half of all the funerals in London were for children under the age of ten,” and for the children who lived “grew up without education and resource and virtually no change to escape from the cycle of poverty” (Perdue.) Due to his own experiences growing up poor with his family (he even bases the Cratchit family in Camden Town where he lived with his family), Dickens becomes an advocate, in a sense, for the important welfare of children.In A Christmas Carol, Dickens uses Tiny Tim as an example of how impoverished children live. Some scholars in medical fields believe, according to the hints in the text that Bob Cratchit’s son is ailing from a kidney disease, which was unrecognized during the 19th century and is fueled by the poverty level that the family is under.
The two other “characters” in this story that illustrate the authors passionate interest in this matter are the twins Ignorance and Want who are seen under robe of The Ghost of Christmas Present. These allegorical children tell the foreboding message of, “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased” (Dickens 1500). They are the children of Man and “they cling to me, appealing from their fathers” (Dickens 1500.) This warning is telling the readers that unless the education for the impoverished children changes for the better, children will continue to spiral downward – bringing society with them. Ignorance is the downfall of society.The experiences of seeing the life of the Cratchit family, especially the poor condition of Tiny Tim, and seeing the allegorical twins are two major factors in the change that the readers see in Ebenezer Scrooge. This is first seen when he reaction of “Oh, no kindred spirit. Say he will be spared” when spirit says that he “see[s] a vacant seat, in the poor chimney-corner, and crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die” (Dickens 1493.) Then, in the scene were Scrooge sees Ignorance and Want: “‘Have they no refuge or resource?’ cried Scrooge. ‘Are there no prisons?’ said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. ‘Are there no workhouses?’” (Dickens 1500.)
Through his literature, Dickens did help bring the wellbeing and education of impoverished children. However, the conditions did not truly improve until after his death. During the 19th century there was a rise of literature with a child protagonist and literature orientated for young readers. Dickens greatly contributed this genre and will be forever known as a man who wanted to make a difference.
If you would like to explore Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, his other novels, and about the author himself, please visit David Perdue’s Charles Dickens Page. It is the best website that I have found out there on the Web and has great discussions and facts about everything Dickens.
Perdue, David. "A Christmas Carol." Charles Perdue's Charles Dickens Page. 2007. 27 Dec. 2007
Dickens, Charles. "A Christmas Carol." The Longman Anthology: British Literature. Ed. David Damrosch and Kevin Dettmar. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. 1464-1513.
