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A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens. Context: Victorian England 1837-1901. The Author Charles Dickens. Born in 1812 His father was imprisoned for debt. Dickens was very passionate about the poor. He was a lower-middle-class boy who worked in a factory when his family needed extra money.
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A Christmas CarolCharles Dickens Context: Victorian England 1837-1901
The AuthorCharles Dickens • Born in 1812 • His father was imprisoned for debt. • Dickens was very passionate about the poor. • He was a lower-middle-class boy who worked in a factory when his family needed extra money.
Life in Victorian England • At this time in England, the income gap between the rich and the poor was much, much bigger than it is today. • The contrast, or difference, between those who were rich and those who were poor was shocking.
Those who were poor lived in squalor, deprivation, and misery. • They barely had enough money or food to survive. • Child mortality was very high. • There was no healthcare. If you got sick and could not work, your whole family was at risk of death. • The workhouse was the only option for many families, where at least they would be fed and housed. However, at the workhouse, families were split up, and often conditions were no better.
Those who were rich lived in the exact opposite way. • They had enormous houses, expensive clothes, and servants. • Few of the rich people in Victorian England took an interest in helping the poor. • They felt that poverty was the fault of the poor—a punishment that could be avoided.
Workhouses • Workhouses were the only places where people who were too poor to survive could get help. • Conditions in the workhouse were made deliberately harsh in order to discourage people from going there for help.
WHAT’S IT LIKE HERE IN AMERICA? The Distribution of Wealth Between Americans The average annual income of the top 1 percent of the population is $717,000, compared to the average income of the rest of the population, which is around $51,000. The top 1 percent are worth about $8.4 million, or 70 times the worth of the lower classes. Altogether, the top 1 percent control 43 percent of the wealth in America. Source: Forbes, Average America vs. the One Percent by Alan Dunn, 3/12/2012
In 2012, 50 million Americans (16%) were living in poverty.
To summarize… • Dickens felt very strongly about the gap between rich and poor. • He wrote A Christmas Carol to bring attention to societal problems like poverty and make people think differently about their actions.
Questions for Discussion Why do you think Charles Dickens chose to set his book at Christmas time? What does Christmas mean in our culture? What can we do about poverty in America?
