How does Dickens present the poor and poverty in A Christmas Carol?

In the novel A Christmas Carol Dickens shows that there is much poor and poverty going on in the world. In the novel a families are exposed of going through poverty and being poor, Bob Cratchit and his wife and Tiny Tim and his other children, Bob Cratchit is a man who works for Mr Scrooge. He has a small family who depend on the income he gets from Mr Scrooge. This is already showing the readers that if Mr Scrooge did not pay him his earnings then Bob would be in trouble with his family.

How will he manage to feed them?. Even though this family is poor, they seem to be in high spirits at all times. Bob's family are all depending on Mr Scrooge to pay him if not then they will not continue to exist. Showing the readers this family is very unfortunate to not have as much money as Mr Scrooge has. This shows that the Cratchits may not be as happier as they are now if they had no money at all, Yet going through poverty does not stop tiny Tim from praying to god "to help them all".

Fred, Scrooges nephew seems to be happy enough with the money he has and comes to share his happiness with Mr Scrooge but he neglects Fred's offer to have dinner at his home. Fred who had married a lady who was not as rich as Mr Scrooge was happy despite the lack of money he is determined to celebrate Christmas. He is always glad and joyful regardless of how much money he has. Men and women "should open their shut up hearts freely", Even if you opened your heart freely what if money was stopping you? You have all the money you could ever wish for, yet your still not as happy as other are?

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Fred does not worry about what you think money can bring. Open your heart freely. Mr Scrooge shows not feeling but seems to be in a bad temper at all times even though he has more money than he needs. Fred shows he is better off without all the money that Mr Scrooge has, he has his wife, his family his friends even though he is going through poverty and Dickens is showing this by making Fred go round to his uncles work and invite him to his Christmas dinner and is ignored by Mr Scrooge by calling Christmas a "Humbug", He is showing that even though you may be poor and are going through poverty there should be nobody to stop you from being in a excellent mood.

Fezziwig, another business man just like Mr Scrooge has many more people and families who depend on him and rely on him to keep them alive with his money. Fezziwig is seen giving all his workers a day off and smiling and laughing away with them, Scrooge seems to think why Fezziwig will do such a thing (Spend so much money for his workers). Although Fezziwig is rich and has his family and friends with him he spends some of his money on his workers this expands the happiness he already has, and also makes his workers cheerful in the season of Christmas.

Mr Scrooge seems to think that what Fezziwig is doing is also a "humbug" he cannot come to terms with the fact that sharing is caring. Fezziwig is better off giving money to the poor and being happy unlike Scrooge who has so much money but does not share at all he dislikes wasting money he dislikes spending his money altogether. Dickens is trying to show the readers that even having to be poor and going through tough times with getting to have a shelter and leaving in a place your family can sleep well, being happy about Christmas and the more merrier you are the more merrier your Christmas will be.

The readers can tell that Scrooge is very different from Fezziwig the two differences that they have is that Scrooge hates spending his money, even though he is rich he is miserable rotting away in his work place and in his house on his own. Whereas Fezziwig is as rich as Scrooge, he spends a modest amount of money to make the life of his workers a little more enjoyable.

What Dickens is trying to show the reader is that Scrooge is the type of person who is greedy at first and will want to keep his money to himself and all his thoughts and feelings kept inside himself. His character has formed for his past. Scrooge was a lonely boy and then as a young man he was employed by a kind and giving man. All the same, Ebenezer had magnificent ambitions. He also wanted to earn as much as he could ever get and this is what had distorted Scrooges personality as well as himself. His fear of having to lose all his money and Business, has changed his social life, and his personal life, it's affected him mentally and physically. He has neglected his friends and his family, he also seems to disregard himself and forget how he is, forgetting his health and well being for his money. This fear of poverty has taken over his life and changed him.

Dickens is trying to show us that poverty is something very powerful, having no home or money could change the way you think of money completely you may steal to get money or even beg, but before when you did have the money you had taken it for granted. So once you have lost all of the money you once had you may want it back again and will do anything to gain it back.

Dickens as a child had also gone through poverty as he used to work in a workhouse in his early ages, poverty was a great inspiration for Dickens to create A Christmas Carol as it shows so much that people may not understand, Charles Dickens is trying to show us how a Christmas should be spent without al the grief but full of joy and happiness.

Dickens experience of poverty had also changed his way of thinking and has made him realise that poverty possibly will affect some ones family and their own self in a bad way. Just before his father's arrest, the 12-year-old Dickens had begun working ten-hour days at Warren's Blacking Warehouse. He earned six shillings a week pasting labels on jars of thick shoe polish. This money paid for his lodgings with Mrs. Roylance and helped support his family, So Dickens knows how Bob Cratchit will feel about his family being dependent on him for the money he earns for Scrooge.

At this time there was a lot of poverty in London and it was not unusual for such a story as A Christmas Carol to occur.

Transformation

The transformation that took place had changed the way that scrooge used to think about Christmas, He was at first a very lonely and miserable old man, who used to keep everything to him self, his feelings were never expressed and by no means ever smiled. Scrooge is very touched by the visions that the ghost of Christmas past shows him; his transformation begins. He remembers the feelings he had for the love of his life, but he had left her for his business and his wealth. The scenes he had seen were appalling and he had realised that he could steer clear of ending his life in misery. He had seen the consequences of his actions, and stirred away from them.

In the novel A Christmas Carol Dickens links Scrooge to `bad weather` on page 12 Dickens metaphorically describes Scrooge, "No Warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he." "The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often `came down` handsomely, and scrooge never did." Dickens had described Scrooge as being so "cold" that the heaviest rain and coldest weather were better off than him.

He is compared to his nephew Fred who with such a uncle, who comes from such bad weather; "he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again." This is showing us that Fred is a much happier person than scrooge. And even though he is from the same background as Scrooge, he is a completely different person to scrooge. Dickens is trying to show us that Scrooge and Fred have a complete contrast between them. Fred is "Warm" and Scrooge is "Cold", As soon as Fred has entered the room the atmosphere had changed; from cold to warm, showing us how cold Scrooge really is.

Furthermore Dickens shows Scrooge how the industrial revolution had changed London and the affect it had on the poor people. On Page 77 the phantom later takes Scrooge to an "obscure part of town, where Scrooge had never penetrated before, Although he recognised its situation and its bad repute." Being so rich Scrooge had never stepped into the bad parts of town, which because of them that part of town was in that bad state The onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human society; and these poor people who had no jobs and no money had to stay at the dark parts of town which was in a bad condition. The industrial revolution had introduced many new things which had rapidly changed the whole world.

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