In ‘A Christmas Carol’, Dickens presents Ignorance and Want in a metaphorical fashion, depicting them as children. This is done in such a manner as to shock and appall the reader, leading to greater emotional investment. Throughout the extract’s entirety, Ignorance and Want are depicted as children, increasing the atmosphere of pessimism that surrounds them. Dickens describes the manner in which the Ghost of Christmas Present “brought two children” – by describing Ignorance and Want as “children”, Dickens creates the impression of innocence, vulnerability, and weakness. This heightens the impacts of the more vivid descriptions that follow, when Dickens describes the children as “wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable.” The juxtaposition of these terms to the traditional view of children as vulnerable creates a sense of shock in the reader. Furthermore, the use of asyndetic listing alongside the negative adjectives creates a semantic field of horror. In this way, the description of Ignorance and Want as children is used by Dickens to increase the atmosphere of pessimism. Dickens goes on to describe Ignorance and Want in a pitiful manner …show more content…
It’s said that “Scrooge started back, appalled.” The use of a short sentence emphasises the immediate nature of Scrooge’s reaction. The word “appalled” also shows the disgust, apprehension, and horror that Scrooge felt in reaction to these children, signifying to the reader that these characters are particularly pitiful. This is amplified when Scrooge goes to compliment the children, “but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude.” The personification of the words shows the extent of the lie – Scrooge truly can’t justify complimenting Ignorance and Want, alluding to their truly dreadful and pitiful nature. Through this, Dickens uses Scrooge to show the true nature of Ignorance and