Throughout the novella dickens
stresses the importance of
charity in everyone sʼ lives. When
dickens wrote the novella It was
the 19th Century, there was a
large divide between the rich and
the poor, which led to many
employers and higher classes
believing that people were only
poor because they were lazy or
was poor because of their actions
and their wrong doings. Dickens
shows us that an act of charity is
one of the best gifts you can give
to people by showing them
kindness and by philanthropy.
The first act of charity in the
novella is seen in the form of the
two portly gentlemen. Dickens
uses these characters to
represent those at the time who
felt it was right to ‘provide some
slight provision for the poorʼ
during the festive season, which
shows us as the audience that
they were all judged by their
appearance, as if they looked fat
and had adequate clothing or a
big belly they appeared as though
theyʼd got enough money to help
themselves and they didnʼt need
charity. They are obviously very
open to giving money to help
those less fortunate and through
them, Dickens is showing that not
all richer people were ignorant to
the poor. He also uses them to
reflect his own personal opinion
about charity.
Dickensʼ uses Scrooge sʼ dialogue
with these two gentlemen to
show an opposing opinion
towards charity. When asked to
make a donation to help the poor,
Scrooge replies with ‘It sʼ not my
business.ʼ This illustrates many of
the upper classes attitudes to the
poor as they felt that they
couldnʼt ‘afford to make idle
people merry.ʼ Dickens also uses
this meeting to develop Scrooge sʼ
character as his lack of interest or
care for the poor shows the
indifference he has for other
people and tells us that he
doesnʼt have an interest if the
subject is irrelevant to him or
doesnʼt benefit him personally. By
Scrooge dismissing the chance to
aid with helping others with
charity so abruptly it shows he
has no time for consideration for
what they are asking, which
shows he is blinded and he
doesnʼt want to really know what
those who are asking for charity
are really having to go through or
deal with in their lives.
The character of Jacob Marley
shows us the consequences of
not acting in a charitable manner
in our mortal lives. He tells
Scrooge that his interests should
focus on suffering humans
instead of business. Scrooge
remarks that Marley was always ‘a
good man of businessʼ but Marley
tells him that ‘mankind was my
(Marley sʼ) business.ʼ This reflects
Dickensʼ attitude to charity as he
is telling the reader that their
fellow neighbours are more
important than financial gain. The
‘phantomsʼ that wander the air
when Marley departs ‘sought to
interfere, for good, in human
mattersʼ but they had ‘lost their
power for goodʼ because they
had not acted kindly in their
mortal life. This shows us that
Marley had a kind heart and tried
to help anyone and everyone that
needed the help and charity, it
shows us that him and Scrooge
were best friends and they
could...
