A Christmas Carol: Themes (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Themes

Exam responses that are led by ideas are more likely to reach the highest levels of the mark scheme. Exploring the ideas of the text, specifically in relation to the question being asked, will help to increase your fluency and assurance in writing about the text.

Below are some ideas which could be explored in A Christmas Carol. This list is not exhaustive and you are encouraged to identify other ideas within the text.

• Poverty

• Family and Relationships 

• Transformation and Redemption

• Death and Loss

Poverty

The theme of poverty is one of the most  prevalent  themes within the text. Dickens makes the reader fully aware of the “poor and destitute” from the outset and this is continued throughout the  novella.

Knowledge and evidence:

• Dickens presents many examples of poverty and suffering throughout the novella which demonstrates the contrasts between the rich and poor:

  • Their appearance is contrasted with scenes of abundance and by doing so, Dickens alludes to the idea that there is enough for everyone if it is shared equally

  • The Cratchits’ dwelling is small and humble compared with Scrooge's home 

  • Dickens uses Ignorance and Want as an  allegory as they are representative of children who are forced to live in terrible conditions

• Dickens subverts the Victorian misconception of the poor as  indolent and ungrateful by presenting the Cratchit family in an extremely positive light:

  • Bob and his daughter Martha both work and Bob is hoping to obtain work for his son, Peter

  • Bob is presented as a devoted father and loving husband which is in sharp contrast to Scrooge

  • The Cratchit family is presented as  industrious

• The Cratchit family conveys an impression of Christmas as a time of generosity and goodwill and despite the fact that the family struggles financially, they are deeply appreciative of what they have 

• Furthermore, Dickens uses the Cratchit family as a reminder of the humanity of the lower classes:

  • Despite Scrooge’s cruelty towards Bob and his wife’s anger towards Scrooge, the family still display their compassion in raising a toast to Scrooge

• Dickens makes poverty a serious concern within the novella and demonstrates how it can destroy lives:

  • Images of disease and illness are depicted among the poor due to their lack of food and dreadful living conditions

  • Through the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Dickens depicts the devastating consequences of a system in which Tiny Tim could potentially die:

    • Bob’s insufficient wages mean that he cannot provide adequate care for his son

• Dickens highlights the importance of charity and benevolence, but he also illustrates how the poor are not provided with the resources to help themselves and instead are reliant on the charity of others:

  • By being a better employer, Scrooge could help to the Cratchit family out of poverty

  • Although the charity collectors in Stave I represent goodness at Christmas, arguably the poor should be helped at all times of the year

• Scrooge displays an uncaring attitude towards the poor and his ruthlessness makes others suffer hardships:

  • Scrooge is depicted as a miser who refuses to make a charitable donation to help those less fortunate than himself:

    • Scrooge reveals his ignorance of the poor as he makes no distinction between the lower classes and criminals, declaring: “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?” 

    • Scrooge’s support for prisons and workhouses illustrates his flawed views on how to solve the issues of poverty

• By the end of the novella, Scrooge demonstrates a change of heart toward those less fortunate than himself: 

  • Scrooge’s first stage in his changed attitude to the poor is when he regrets not having given money to a carol singer: “I should like to have given him something, that’s all” 

  • Scrooge eventually uses his wealth to improve the lives of others and to make society a better place

• The plight of the poor is highlighted through Bob’s character and he is used to underscore Scrooge’s cruel and  exploitative behaviour:

  • Bob works in a “dismal little cell”, a metaphorical prison, which conveys the impression that he is trapped and confined and cannot escape from deprivation and poverty

  • Bob is in constant fear of losing his job and he is symbolic of the lower classes and their dependence on their employer:

    • His situation depends on wealthy businessmen like Scrooge and so subsequently does the fate of his family

What is Dickens’s intention?

• Dickens attempts to ensure Scrooge becomes aware of his own poverty — his lack of kindness and benevolence — to recognise his responsibility to those who are less fortunate than him

• Dickens highlights the importance of charity and benevolence but he also illustrates how the poor are not provided with the resources to help themselves. Instead they are reliant on the charity of others

Family and Relationships

Dickens explores many ideas relating to family and relationships within A Christmas Carol. Dickens presents this concept in very positive terms through many characters, including the Cratchits and Fred, and emphasises the fundamental importance of family to people’s lives.

Knowledge and evidence:

• Marley and Scrooge’s relationship is established from the very beginning:

  • Although Dickens states they were partners for “many years”, the relationship that is presented is one merely associated with business, rather than an affectionate friendship

• This is further highlighted when Dickens declares that Scrooge “was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event”, which illustrates the shallow nature of their relationship and Scrooge’s lack of affection for anyone:

  • Scrooge’s lack of emotion makes the reader initially view him as callous  and hard-hearted 

• Scrooge’s initial character is revealed through his relationship (or lack of) with the rest of society:

  • Similar to his former partner Marley, Scrooge is entirely isolated and ostracised from those around him: “Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, “My dear Scrooge, how are you?”

  • Scrooge’s isolation from society enables him to remain ignorant of the plight of the poor and the social problems which surround him

• Fred is Scrooge’s only nephew, yet Scrooge displays an aloofness and hostility towards him and refuses to celebrate Christmas with Fred’s family:

  • Fred is in complete contrast to Scrooge in both spirit and appearance, yet despite his uncle’s disdain for him, he remains loyal and charitable towards Scrooge

  • He is a foil to Scrooge's character

  • Dickens uses the character of Fred, with his optimism and cheerfulness, to make Scrooge’s miserly and pessimistic behaviour appear even worse

  • Scrooge does eventually reconnect with his family through Fred and establishes a ‘new’ family through the Cratchits

• Dickens demonstrates how Scrooge’s relationship and engagement with Belle were destroyed by Scrooge’s fixation with money:

  • She represents the contented life that Scrooge could have had and underscores the corrosive consequences of greed and the terrible consequences it can have on a loving relationship

• Bob is presented as the ideal family figure; he is a devoted father and husband who is loved and respected by his family:

  • Through Bob, Dickens underscores his message about the importance of family and its centrality to people’s lives

  • His relationship with his children is continually shown to be loving and affectionate: “Tiny Tim upon his shoulder”/“Why, where’s our Martha?”

  • Bob’s change in character due to Tiny Tim’s predicted death demonstrates his affection for his son and shows how the loss of a loved one can impact someone’s life 

  • The Cratchits are presented as a united family and they all join in with the preparation of their Christmas meal: “Mrs Cratchit made the gravy... Master Peter mashed the potatoes... Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple-sauce...”

What is Dickens’s intention?

• Dickens underscores his message about the importance of family and its centrality to people’s lives

• Dickens demonstrates how an obsession with greed and material possessions can destroy relationships 

Transformation and Redemption

Ideas relating to transformation and redemption are recurrent themes throughout the novella. Scrooge undergoes a journey of redemption and his change in character is instrumental to the plot of the text.

• Dickens depicts Scrooge’s journey of transformation from a cruel miser to a  benevolent and kind man:

  • Scrooge is used as a signal to the upper classes to change their dangerous and harsh attitudes toward the lower classes

• Scrooge’s preoccupation with materialism is detrimental to his happiness:

  • His former fiancée Belle ends their engagement because he has replaced her with a “golden idol”

  • This is also echoed by Fred when he declares that his uncle’s wealth is of no use if he “doesn’t do any good with it”

• Dickens conveys the message that everyone has the ability to show compassion and kindness to others, regardless of their social position:

  • Dickens presents those who show kindness as contented and fulfilled, while those who do not are depicted as bitter and unhappy

• Dickens uses each spirit to teach Scrooge a vital moral lesson and the regret which Scrooge exhibits is necessary for his redemption:

  • Scrooge’s heightened emotions endear him to the reader and illustrate the change in his character: “And he sobbed”

  • Through the Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge’s memories become a catalyst for his transformation 

  • Scrooge becomes highly emotional and he demonstrates the ability to change early in the novella:

  • In Stave II, his first stage of remorse is revealed when he regrets not having given money to a carol singer 

• Through the character of Tiny Tim, Scrooge develops his ability to empathise with those who are less fortunate: 

  • Tiny Tim plays an important part in inspiring Scrooge’s transformation which is central to the narrative

• Dickens clearly presents Scrooge’s transformation from avarice to benevolence:

  • By the end of the novella, Scrooge has been transformed into a charitable philanthropist : “I am light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy, I am giddy as a drunken man” and “I am not the man I was” 

What is Dickens’s intention?

• Through the character of Scrooge, Dickens conveys a universal message that everyone is capable of change, regardless of how impossible it may seem

• Dickens conveys the message that everyone has the ability to show compassion and kindness to others, regardless of their social position

Death and Loss

Death and loss are recurring ideas within A Christmas Carol. Dickens uses these ideas to underscore the permanency of death and to signal to the reader that it is never too late to change.

• The opening lines of the novella state: “Marley was dead, to begin with”:

  • As death normally signifies the ending of things, Dickens inverts this and instead begins the novella with a death and ends it with the rebirth of Scrooge:

    • It is Marley’s death which makes Scrooge’s transformation possible 

  • Dickens presents the death of Marley but there is no sense of loss conveyed:

    • His death is described in a clinical and detached manner which alludes to Scrooge’s cold character

  • Marley’s ghost serves as a warning to Scrooge and to the reader that everyone is responsible for their actions and will be held accountable

• While Scrooge is very much alive in the novella, Dickens uses images associated with death to describe him:

  • “The cold within him froze his old features…his thin lips blue” suggests that something within Scrooge is also dead

• Dickens uses the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come as a foreboding symbol of death, bringing punishment or reward:

  • While the previous two spirits were associated with light, this spirit is linked to darkness, death and concealment and is an  ominous and sombre figure

• Dickens presents images of death to signify the consequences of the unfair capitalist system in which the characters exist:

  • For example, the green of Tiny Tim’s burial ground is contrasted with the darkness of Scrooge’s grave

  • Dickens uses Tiny Tim to highlight the high levels of child mortality in Victorian England, especially for those who were poor

  • Dickens juxtaposes two contrasting images of death: Scrooge’s death and Tiny Tim’s death:

  • Tiny Tim’s death highlights the poor living conditions and malnourishment experienced by many poor children:

• Scrooge’s behaviour towards Fred signifies his bitterness towards the loss of his former fiancée:

  • Scrooge’s annoyance at Fred’s merriment could be seen to be motivated, in part, by his resentment towards his happy marriage

What is Dickens’s intention?

• Dickens is critical of the unjust capitalist system in which individuals are forced to exist 

• Dickens aims to encourage others to look after one another and to work towards a society where all members are treated more equally and fairly