Dickens portrays poverty in my ways throughout the extract. Dickens uses the quote “dark shadow on the party” to possibly suggest the division between class’. The idea that a higher class casts a shadow on lower class’ portrays poverty in a negative way – as though higher class’ don’t care about the poor. Also, the idea that the shadow was cast on a party, shows the restrictions put on the poor by higher class’ and society in general. A character which also shows a negative attitude to poverty was Scrooge in the quote “are there no prisons?...and the union workhouses” this shows that Scrooge does not care about the poor nor what happens to them. This is an example of a person from a higher class casting a metaphorical shadow on someone in a lower class.

When Scrooge is referred to as “the founder of the feast” by his worker Bob, Dickens portrays a positive attitude towards poverty. The concept that Bob is still grateful to Scrooge despite the horrible treatment that he receives. Also, previous knowledge of the money Bob receives from Scrooge shows how small the feast will be as Scrooge is the soul founder. Another character which shows a positive attitude towards poverty is the charity men at the beginning of the book who are raising money to give to the poor. This is shown in the quote “I help to support the establishments and those who are badly off can go there”. This shows a positive attitude as the charity man is attempting to better the life of those who are less fortunate.

Dickens also used juxtaposition to show another positive attitude with the idea of “they were not a handsome family…” contrasting with “but they were happy, grateful”. This shows a negative of being poor, next to the unexpected positives of poverty. In these contrasting quotes, Dickens shows that although someone might not be wealthy with money, they can be wealthy at heart. This is the opposite to Scrooge as he is wealthy with money but poor at heart – this is shown in the quote “tight fisted”, as Scrooge was clearly able to share however unwilling and therefore poor at heart. These two characters, at first, contrast to each other as one is kind but poor, and the other is rich but selfish. In these quotes, Dickens portrayed poverty in two different ways.

Poverty is also portrayed many ways throughout the entire book however, the most drastic way was Scrooges change towards the treatment of the poor. Early in the book Scrooge shared his opinion on the poor by declaring that he would rather them die, and “decrease the surplus population”. However, when repeated the words by the ghost of Christmas future, he became “overcome with penitence and grief”. This shows a change of attitude from Scrooge throughout the duration of the book, portrayed both negatively and positively.

Dickens also used two children, named “ignorance” and “want” to represent the poor. This is shown in the quote “a stale and shrivelled hand…has pinched them, twisted them and then pulled them to shreds”. These children are used to show reality to Scrooge as children are often admired because they are the opposite to what Dickens describes ‘ignorance’ and ‘want’. This shows a negative attitude towards poverty as these children are product of both poverty and wealth as the wealthy are ignorant, and the poor want to have more fortune.

	Created by Katie Peel about 7 years ago

Year 11 English Note on How dickens shows poverty in christmas carol, created by Katie Peel on 30/03/2017.