A Christmas carol

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"I’ll drink his health for your sake and the day’s, not for his long life to him. "
Christmas is the time for ‘good will to all men’- it is wrong of Mrs Cratchitt to criticise Scrooge at Christmas, even though she is right to be angry. Christmas is a time for being charitable in thought as well as deed!
1 of 10
"What right have you to be merry- you are poor enough. "
The Bible has a lot to say about being charitable- charity is a Christian virtue (opposite of a sin) and a lot to say about not storing up riches on earth but storing up riches in heaven.
2 of 10
"Are there no prisons? …and the Union workhouses?"
These were the only help for the poor- Scrooge thinks this is enough- his taxes go to fund these so why should he give to charity? Common Victorian attitude to the poor. Some people thought that the poor were poor because they were lazy.
3 of 10
"The happiness he gives is quite so great as if it cost a fortune"
See context links for ‘What right have you to be merry- you are poor enough’. Writer’s purpose- Dickens is getting his audience to think about what is really of real value in this world- material or spiritual wealth.
4 of 10
"I see a vacant seat in the poor chimney corner and a crutch without an owner"
In Victorian England there was no help for poor children or the sick and elderly- and if you couldn’t afford to pay for a doctor you just died. Lots of children suffered from childhood diseases like polio and rickets.
5 of 10
"I wear the chain I forged in life- I made it link by link…would you know the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself?"
Money is the root of all evil, store up treasures for yourself in heaven etc- the bible again- people should be charitable and kind, not greedy. Links to the golden Idol in stave 3.
6 of 10
P101- Mrs Dilber: “It’s a judgement on him.” Laundress: “He isn’t likely to take cold without ‘em” p103
She steals them because she is poor and needy- the poor are desperate and will do anything to survive- not because they are bad, it’s because they are forced to. Gain, links to greed- he has been ‘judged’- very religious word.
7 of 10
“He recoiled in terror…beneath a ragged sheet there lay a something covered up” p104
Ghost of Christmas yet to come shows him his body on the bed wrapped in a sheet. ‘terror’ shows how afraid he is. It’s a cross between a Christmas story and a gothic novel- it is often quite dark and scary. Links to Gothic genre and the supernatural.
8 of 10
"It is likely to be a very cheap funeral"
The section where he overhears the other businessmen saying they won’t go to his funeral unless there is a ‘lunch provided’- shows how little he is respected.
9 of 10
"Tight-fisted hand at the grindstone- squeezing wrenching grasping clutching covetous old sinner"
Money is a key theme in Victorian society- big divide between rich and poor and no help for poor people so keeping hold of your wealth is important. Many rich Victorians believed that the poor were poor because they were lazy.
10 of 10

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

"What right have you to be merry- you are poor enough. "

Back

The Bible has a lot to say about being charitable- charity is a Christian virtue (opposite of a sin) and a lot to say about not storing up riches on earth but storing up riches in heaven.

Card 3

Front

"Are there no prisons? …and the Union workhouses?"

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

"The happiness he gives is quite so great as if it cost a fortune"

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

"I see a vacant seat in the poor chimney corner and a crutch without an owner"

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

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