GRADE 9 Essay on Importance of Children in A Christmas Carol GCSE
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Course
English
Institution
GCSE
This essay focuses on the Importance of Children, including context, and detailed analysis of quotes relating to children. This essay was marked as a Grade 9 and written for Eduqas exam board but can be adapted to any!
Introduction:
In the novella A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickens, on...
• Write about how Dickens presents the importance of children in his novel.
• In your response you should:
• Refer to the extract and the novel as a whole
• Show your understanding of characters and events in the novel
• Refer to the contexts of the novel (40 marks)
In the novella A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickens, one of the
explored themes is the Importance of Children. Dickens was deeply concerned
by the plight of the poor and in particular the rates of infant mortality which were
extremely high during the Victorian Era. This was mainly due to the exploitation
of child labour – a result of the rapid industrialisation. Dickens wanted to raise
awareness of this and help end children being mistreated and undervalued.
In Stave Two, The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge his past and his
lonely childhood – ‘A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still.’ The
adjective ‘solitary’ illustrates how strong this feeling of loneliness was to Scrooge
– he feels completely deserted. However, this links to the beginning of the
novella when Scrooge was described as ‘solitary as an oyster’. Dickens here
perhaps alludes to how having a lonely childhood has shaped Scrooge into the
miser he is now, therefore emphasises how important children and treated them
with compassion are to society as a whole. The verb ‘neglected’ shows how
mistreated and abandoned Scrooge was, but also how children were mistreated
in the Victorian times, and exploited by child labour. The adverb ‘still’ further
proves how Scrooge still feels like the child he was, and exemplifies how affected
he was by his childhood, despite coming from a rich family. Dickens highlights
how regardless of wealth, children were still neglected – rich children were rarely
given affection, and poor children were forced to work in terrible conditions.
Dickens demonstrates how important children are I shaping society and how
their treatment affects their character leading into the future.
In the extract, Dickens introduces the reader to Scrooge’s little sister Fan
and effectively presents the importance of children to family and the love and
warmth she brings. She tells him: ‘I have come to bring you home, dear brother!’
said the child.’ Dickens skilfully presents the importance of children as it is Fan
we see rescuing Scrooge from his isolated life in the school, demonstrating the
role of children in bringing the family together. The verb ‘bring’ demonstrates
how she is the cause of Scrooge’s return to his home, and portrays her
importance in bringing the family together; she also addresses him using the
adjective ‘dear’ highlighting her love and compassion for Scrooge. She states:
‘Home, for good and all...home’s like heaven.’ The repetition of ‘home’
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