1. A Christmas Carol Revision: CONTEXT 5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

2. Context in A Christmas Carol
Dickens’ life
Victorian lifestyles
Social attitudes
Women
Class divide
Charity/support for the poor
Christmas in the Victorian era
Revision lesson:
A lot of note-taking.
Feel free to put these into your own words.
Mind map, note-form- anything that would help you when you come to your revision.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

3. Charles Dickens Born in 1812.
His father inherited money and Dickens’ went to private school for two years.
Father imprisoned for debt.
As a result, Dickens left education to work in a factory to help earn extra money for his family.
Very passionate about the poor.
Wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843.
Think about how these factors might have influenced Dickens’ attitude towards writing the novel.
A Christmas Carol:
6,000 copies sold in the fist week.
15,000 sold in its first year.
Note: His first story was published in 1833.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

4. Charles Dickens
“As in his previous novels, real social concern motivated Dickens to write A Christmas Carol. In this instance, he was inspired to write a Christmas story highlighting the plight of the poor as an appeal for charity from those better-off. Such charity was desperately needed during the severe economic depression of the 1840s. Having suffered considerable hardship and poverty during his upbringing, the passionate feelings evoked in Dickens’ writings by social inequalities were based on bitter experience.”
Read aloud to class.
Put these notes into your own words or copy some quotes into your books.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

5. Living in Victorian England
Large gap between the rich and the poor.
High child mortality rates.
Lack of healthcare. Being ill put your whole family at risk.
A typical family- usually five or six children.
Homelessness was common.
Charity.
100,000
How does Dickens portray life/living conditions in A Christmas Carol?
Lack of healthcare
Families were large- obviously made it more difficult to manage health, hygiene and well-being.
Charity
Charities in the Victorian era were considered as an act that would help people save their souls.
Think about the significance of the link between this and the ghosts in A Christmas Carol.
100,000- can you guess what this figure represents?
No. of children in London who had not attended a school of any kind.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

6. Ragged Schools Charity institutions. For destitute children.
Provided food, clothing and lodging for their students.
No government support.
Existed solely on charitable donations.
Poor quality of buildings.
Ragged schools- an alternative to schools run by private owners which many couldn’t afford.
Provided food, clothing and lodging for their students.- only in some cases.
Slum-like conditions.
Those who didn’t attend school, worked- will cover this in the next couple of slides.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

7. The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
PLLA/ New Poor Law
Centred on the workhouses.
Implemented to manage poor relief.
- Outdoor relief: the poor would remain in their own homes and were either given a ‘dole’ of money on which to live or were given relief in the form of handouts such as clothes and food.
- Indoor relief: the poor could be taken into a local alms-house or workhouse where they would be set to work.
1832 Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws
But was found to be ineffective- hence, the amended act.
Alms-house: house funded by charity.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

8. Workhouses
The poor would be offered a spot in the workhouses if they were prepared to leave their homes and enter a workhouse.
Many families were stationed at the workhouse, where they would be fed and housed.
Many children also decided to work here, doing unpleasant manual labour such as breaking up stones.
However, families were often split up and living conditions were extremely poor.
Often called ‘prisons for the poor’.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

9. The ‘poor’
How does Dickens portray the view of the lower class through Scrooge’s character?
What is Dickens’ opinion on the poor and how they are treated? How do you know this?
Hint: pp.10-11
Negative view of the rich.
Dickens has experienced hardship before.
He is obviously very unhappy about the way the poor are treated.
pp.9-10: The charity workers mention that hundreds and thousands of people are in need of charity.
Dickens’ is raising awareness through this novella.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

10. The ‘rich’
Most of the rich in Victorian England took very little interest in helping the poor.
They believed that poverty was their fault, or something that could be avoided.
However, there was a significant amount that did have interest in helping the working class.
Middle and upper class families lived in large and comfortable houses.
Think about the disparity of the rich and the poor.
In your own time as revision, you might want to compare and contrast the portrayal of the rich and poor in the real historical context vs how it is portrayed in the novella.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

11. Victorian Gothic
During the Victorian era, it was popular to place Gothic novels in an urban setting.
London was a particularly popular setting in which to set these stories.
Video: 3m33s
Article handouts: Have a read through and underline anything that stands out to you.
Keep it as reference to aid revision.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

12. Women Victorian England largely seen as ‘a mans’ world.’
More specifically, ‘a rich, upper-class, man’s world’.
Expected to marry, give birth to children and be a devoted house-wife.
The most significant distinguisher between upper and lower class women was their clothing.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

13. Rich and Poor Women 5 – clear understanding
THE RICH
THE POOR
Access to high quality food.
Could not afford substantial amounts of food- often tasteless.
Often had staff and servants to help them raise their children.
Many poor women were single with n family. Relied on themselves.
Lack of work- monetary advantage meant that they had no need to.
Often employed in jobs that required skills. Some worked as bookkeepers.
Often wore exotic clothing, made to impress not only other wealthy women, but also the poor.
Rags and cheap cloth.
Spent most of their time at home, often entertaining guests and family.
Many women would turn to prostitution and many sexually transmitted diseases spread around.
Main focus of the novella is on a male character.
Useful to understand the lives of women during this time from broader understanding of life during this time.
In an exam, if you make reference to as much context you can, shows the examiner you know not only the text very well, but you have a strong knowledge and understanding of historical context = will make your answers stronger.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

14. A Victorian Christmas
The Victorians are said to have heavily influenced the way we celebrate Christmas today.
Before Queen Victoria’s reign in 1837, nobody in Britain had heard of Santa Claus or Christmas Crackers.
Many business were still open on Christmas Day.
Christianity was the religion of the majority of the population.
Gifts: Middle class children would receive gifts such as games, dolls, books and clockwork toys. A ‘poor’ child’s stockings, only apples, oranges and nuts would be found.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

15. A Victorian Christmas
Why do you think Dickens chose to set his novella at Christmas time?
Christmas:
A time where people should be kind to one another
A time for celebration
In A Christmas Carol, the Christian ideals of love and sacrifice are underscored.
Sending out a positive message.
Student ideas to be written around with whiteboard pens.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration

16. Why did Dickens write A Christmas Carol?
What does Christmas mean in our society today vs. back in 1843?
Choose a contextual topic and write why this might be relevant to A Christmas Carol based on what you have read so far.
Dicken’s wanted his novella to draw attention to the plight of the poor.
Novella is a social criticism.
Emphasises the importance of social responsibility.
Argues that people have a social responsibility to help the poor.
Encouraging people to distribute their wealth.
5 – clear understanding
6/7 – thoughtful, developed consideration
8/9– convincing, critical analysis and exploration