Advent day ten; Charles Dickens a Christmas Carol 

See day 9 here

First published in 1843, it was originally meant to be a pamphlet to weigh in on the social issues of the day, but Dickens quickly changed the way he wanted to present this. Dickens decided to put these issues in to a story. Dickens was inspired by a report he read about Child labour. The report compiled of interviews with Children and reports of them working 16 hours a day, six days a week sewing or working in factories. Dickens was left 'Stricken' by the report despite these horrific stories representing most children at the time and being nothing out of the ordinary. Dickens himself worked as an 11 year old, as a labourer in a production line, hammering and gluing pieces together. Population had grown 64% since 1812 (when Charles Dickens was born) to 1843 further adding to the problem of Child labourers. Workers were treated as a resource not humans, so children were just as expendable to them as a piece of equipment.  

Many believed the poor should starve to keep population down which obviously inspired the Scrooge character in the book. Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx read this same report and eventually created the Communist manifesto and dreamt of revolution. Dickens was the opposite, although he wanted change he was anti-revolutionary and no way a communist - if anything he was an imperialist. Dickens main message is to treat your employees like human beings, which is why Scrooge eventually becomes kinder. It also conveys the message that the spirit of Christmas charity had gone, hence why Scrooge is so charitable at the end. 

Apparently Tiny Tim is based on Dickens' disabled nephew Harry Burnett. When Dickens visited he was faced with the reality of how his nephew was struggling and what it must have been like for those children in poverty who were disabled. Unfortunately Harry did not survive into adulthood, despite best efforts. 

The 1840's were known as 'The Hungry 40's' as Britain was facing economic depression, unemployment and failed harvests meaning the price of food went up. 

It only took Charles Dickens 6 weeks to write the novella, but he was stressed at the lack of support of his publishers, despite being in financial turmoil himself he had to pay some of the cost to publish the book. Luckily it became an instant success and in 1844 he changed publishers. It was so popular by Christmas eve it was sold out (having been released on the 19th December) People loved that it embodied the Christmas spirit but yet was so relatable. It also happened to coincide with the first ever Christmas card, which can't have hurt it's success.

A Christmas Carol has never been out of print. It has been remade in to films, TV shows, plays and is one of the things most associated with Christmas even today, 176 years after it's release. Charles Dickens actually made very little money out of the book, which greatly disappointed him. But I think he would be overjoyed to see his legacy today.

Have you read a Christmas Carol? Did you know the background story? 

Comment below! 

Rosie x