Theme Of Poverty In A Christmas Carol

A common mindset among the rich of the Victorian Era was that those who suffered from poverty had only themselves to blame. The upper-class saw themselves as superior because of their money, and the poor were looked down upon and blamed for their condition. The rich refused to accept any responsibility to help the poor, or even be kind to them, seeing them as “another race of creatures bound on other journeys”. Dickens challenged this outlook, and was disgusted by it, so he wrote the novella A Christmas Carol with the intent to change people’s views of the poor and society’s responsibility to them. Scrooge, who represents the richer class, is introduced as the personification of winter, after which Dickens uses Fezziwig who is the antithesis of Scrooge as an employer; Bob Cratchit and his family; and Ignorance and Want, in an attempt to illustrate the need for a more compassionate society. …show more content…
Dickens describes the Cratchit family as “not a handsome family; they were not well-dressed… but they were happy”. The family was grateful for what little they had, even their small Christmas dinner. They’re portrayed as kind, grateful, loving, and moral in spite of their poverty. This contentment and gratitude differs to the belief, which prevailed at the time, that the people in poverty were incapable of being appreciative, were immoral and largely criminals. Dickens presents the Cratchits as positive and upstanding citizens because he wanted to change this stereotype of the poor. He wanted to show his audience that people living in poverty could be good people, by using the archetype of a poor but happy family. Dickens desired to change this perception to encourage the audience of the time to be more generous and kind to the