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Summary English literature paper 1 notes A Christmas Carol GCSE
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These are my notes for English literature paper 1 GCSE course on A Christmas Carol.
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A Christmas Carol, • Question either on theme or
Context character. Will be given
extract for one paragraph and
must reference rest of text for
other paragraphs.
• A Christmas Carol is a novella and was published in 1843 by Charles Dickens.
• Born in 1812, Dickens started work at a Blackening factory at aged 12 and
had an ambitious drive. In 1831 he found a passion for writing. His father
was imprisoned for debt and Dickens was very passionate about the poor
having come from a lower middle class family and working in a factory when
his family needed money.
Dickens’s main didactic allegory was that he wanted all people to be charitable
and help other people (especially the poor).
Victorian England:
• In Victorian England the divide bet ween the rich and poor was much bigger
than today. The poor lived in deprivation, dirt and misery with no healthcare
and high child mortality. Horrible workhouses were often the only option for
some people. While the poor suffered, the rich took little interest in the poor
and felt that poverty was something that could be avoided or a punishment
for the poor.
• Christmas in Victorian times was considered to be haunted and on Christmas
Eve, ghosts would walk the land and finished unsettled affairs.
• The Grotesque was a popular writing style in the Victorian era and includes
the ugly, absurd and bizarre and is used in Dickens description of Scrooge.
• Child Labour Report of 1842 was an investigation into child labour in mines
and factories during the Industrial Revolution. The report inspired ‘protest
literature’ in response and inspired Dickens to write A Christmas Carol.
• It would have mainly been the upper class reading Dickens (only literate ones
in society) so his message was clearly aimed at them, the wealthy, showing
the consequences of their selfish actions. Society was also very religious in
the Dickensian period so would have been frightened by Marley and their
own fate of being bound to purgatory if they do not change their capitalist
ways.
Biblical references:
• Every seven years, the Bible states that debts should be cancelled. Marley
has been dead seven years and comes back to Scrooge to warn him to cancel
his debts and change his ways to ensure his journey to Heaven.
, Thomas Malthus: Dickens’s Intentions and beliefs:
• Malthus became renown for his pessimistic • Dickens was a social reformer, concerned with the harsh plight
predictions regarding the future of humanity. of the lower and working classes - which he sought to fix
Malthus wrote that the demand for food through the use of his writing and status. He was particularly
inevitably becomes much greater than the concerned with the health, treatment and well-being of
supply of it. This prediction is rooted in the idea children (like Tiny Tim).
that population increases more rapidly than the • Dickens believed only through education could the cycle of
poverty be broken. Through allowing poor people access to
food supply. well-paid jobs and knowledge to progress in life, Dickens hoped
• Improved living conditions leads to an increase that society could change and flourish.
in numbers who need more food which in turn • Those children who did not attend school, ragged or other wise,
nullifies any improvements in the food worked in factories, mines etc. In some of the more dangerous
availability. Malthus expected factors such as workplaces the life expectancy generally didn’t exceed mid-
war, famine and plague to operate as checks on a t wenties. Children were often the preferred workforce because
swelling population. they could be paid less than adults. Lower and working class
families could not sur vive without the wages each family
• Dickens made a direct opposition to the member, including children, earned.
Malthusian Principle through his dislike of • In A Christmas Carol, Dickens illustrated his concerns for the
Scrooge and the quote “If they would rather die welfare of the poor (particularly children), the plight of the
they had better do it, and decrease the surplus working class, the uncaring nature of the upper class to the
population.” Showing that Scrooge is just lower classes and the importance of family.
another capitalist like Malthus and emphasises • The novella addressed Dickens fear of what might happen
Dickens’s didactic allegory of being charitable should circumstances not change. It is telling that he names
towards the poor. t wo of his characters want and ignorance and too beware of
especially ignorance. It is also telling that these characters are
children, powerless to change their situation and dependent on
society for their care and well-being. Through Scrooge and his
ghost visits Dickens shows his concerns of what may happen
should society not change - the poor getting sick, the rich
staying rich and lower classes trapped in spiral of poverty.
Ignorance and Want:
The Ragged Schools:
• The children, Ignorance and Want, appear at the
• Ragged schools were charitable end of stave 3, they symbolise the treatment of
organisations dedicated to the free the lower classes by Victorian society. They are so
education of destitute children. They malnourished that they look near death. Dickens’s
provided free education, food, disturbing description also likens the children to
clothing and lodging. Pamphlets were ‘devils’ instead of ‘a ngels’. This contrasts the
spread around the country to spread joyful, lively atmosphere of the Christmas spirit
the idea of ragged schools were they we have seen throughout this stave. This
were most needed. They were an
juxtaposition of ideas makes the wretched
example of the actions and changes
Dickens wanted in society to help children all the more socking and distressing.
the poor children through the power • The Ghost tells Scrooge that these children are
of education. the creation of ‘man’ - referring to mankind as a
whole and society as a being. Dickens’s message is
not just directed at Scrooge but the whole of
society.
• We are told to ‘beware’ of them both. But to be
especially wary of ‘Ignorance’. This is because the
denial and ignorance of problems with society is
what leads to poverty. Here ‘Ignorance’ may also
be commentary on the lack of education that
keeps people in the cycle of poverty: through
education ‘want’ of food and shelter can be
eradicated as Dickens believed.
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