Similarities Between A Christmas Carol And The Cry Of The Children

Browning’s and Dicken’s: Taking on Victorian Society.

Literature of the Victorian Era went far deeper than just telling the story that was on the page. It portrayed many issues that plagued the people of the time in a way that not only drew readers in and entertained them but did so in a way that made the stories relatable to the everyday person. Two such examples of this are Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s The Cry of the Children, published in 1842. Dicken’s centers his story on a man and the choices he’s made over his lifetime and the consequences of those choices. Browning’s poem told from the viewpoint of a young unnamed boy, highlights the Victorian society and what she perceived

Both works were published during the First wave of the Victorian era, showcasing how industrialization and capitalism affected all aspects of human life. Dicken’s centers his story around Ebenezer Scrooge and addressed how the choices he had made throughout his life shaped him into the ornery, money hoarding, lonely old man that he is. Dicken’s showed one side of the industrialization coin by creating a story around the ‘big man in charge’, and how he capitalized on the misfortunes of others. Whereas Browning’s poem, focused on the other side of the industrialization coin by doing so through the viewpoint of the worker, she did so by showing one that would affect the people; a child laborer. She addressed not just the effect of industrialization, but the other sides to it; the poor work laws, the childhood labor, and the effects of everything on society as a

While that’s all fine a good, many of those employers cared nothing for the conditions their workers would have to work in, only the financial gains they would accumulate. In his paper "Gold and Mud": Capitalism and Culture in Victorian England, Anthony Wohl writes that “Commerce, not culture, capitalism, not artistic creativity, were to be England's distinctive contributions to the world (Wohl).” This is a fascinating statement largely in part because of the massive industrial boom the occurred in Great Britain during the Victorian age. A boom that only furthered the capitalistic nature of the wealthier class. One thing to note here, though, is that for as much as Scrooge can be seen as a villainous fiend throughout the story, Dicken’s does not condemn or denounce capitalism, only that Scrooge (and Marley) were not very giving souls thanks to it (Issacs). Many people who are financially successful tend to give back to their communities or to some form of organization that helps people. In the case of Scrooge, it is only after he faces his past, present, and future and has his epiphany does he begin giving back; first to help Tiny Tim and the Cratchit family, then helping those in his local