Dickens Poverty Quotes

Dickens teaches us a great deal about Victorian poverty, in London. The extract and novella as a whole illustrate the hardship and stigma the poor endured, which Dickens experienced himself as a child giving us a more vivid and accurate description. The novella was written, by Dickens, to verbalise the inequality and class division in Victorian society or else there was to be a revolution, like in France. Dickens conveys this through his use of language, literary devices, speech and characterisation. In this extract given we learn a lot about poverty through Scrooge’s clerks family; the Cratchits. We are first encountered with the Crachits poverty, through Dickens depiction of the family’s attire. Bob Cratchit’s wife, Mrs

This is also portrayed when Mrs Cratchit and Belinda Cratchit are described as being ‘brave in ribbons’. Peter Crachit the family’s eldest son is wearing ‘Bob’s private property’ in ‘honour of the day’ which even ‘nearly chocked him’, again indicating the family does not have excess money to buy new clothes for occasion and are most probably on a tight budget for essential requirements only. We learn the family comprises Bob Cratchit, his wife and their six children, this means a lot of mouths to tend for, for a not so wealthy family. However, as there was no form of contraception during the time, this was the case for many families in Victorian society. Despite this, the family still tend to their best efforts with their Christmas dinner. They are shown to be cooking a great deal of cheap foods such as potatoes, sage and onion. This would

Scrooge is confused by this as he felt Marley was always‘ “a good man of business” ’ Marley is distressed by this insisting ‘ “Mankind was my business” ’. As the after life in Victorian society was very much associated with Christianity beliefs, Dickens may be suggesting here how the upper class no longer hold any christian values as they have all been pushed aside by money. This could also be represented by Scrooge when he is reluctant of giving his clerk the day off work for Christmas day; this is putting money over a Christian celebration of christ. When the ghost of Christmas past shows Belle breaking off her engagement with Scrooge, we are again reminded of how money had over taken society, replacing love and relationships. Dickens shows us the contrast of the extreme wealth and extreme poor when the ghost of Christmas present flies Scrooge over London, creating a panoramic over view of all the lives of different people being lived, some celebrating the occasion with all life can offer and others with nothing. The ghost of Christmas present also shows us Fezziwig, Scrooge’s employer as an apprentice, he is a foil for Scrooge. He showed compassion for others, and did not put himself on a pedestal because of his class. This is shown when he has a Christmas party and invites even the most vulnerable in society. It was charity like