Starting with this extract, explore how Dickens uses the Cratchit family to show the struggles of the poor.
Bob held his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, ... and dreaded that he might be taken from him.
she would confess she had had her doubts about the quantity of flour.
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Dickens presents the Cratchit family clearly in deprivation of food, struggling to live.
The adjective 'withered' suggests how the Cratchit family is decaying off the face of the earth barely surviving and keeping themselves together.
This is further reinforced by the adjective 'little' in 'little hand' proving how the Cratchit family is underdeveloped and scrawny.
The poverty showcased by the Cratchit family is synonymous with the vast poverty documented in Victorian literature ,which was also a repeated theme within Dickens' books in efforts to shine more light on the devastating situation people where put though.
Dickens demonstrates the Cratchits family's desperation due to their lack of food while lost in poverty
The verb 'confess' presents the Cratchit's despair when lacking having the simplest ingredients like 'flour'. This further shown in the verb 'doubts' as these verbs create a semantic field of uncertainty and releases the underlying worries of the Cratchit's ability to sustain themselves for any longer.
The Cratchits family's 'doubts' about their time left to live are replicated when Dickens was working in a blacking factory under long working hours and in an unforgiving environment; he arguably used the Crachit family to convey his own experiences and despair for the future.
"They were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty."
"Alleys and archways, like so many cesspools, disgorged their offences of smell, and dirt, and life, upon the straggling streets; and the whole quarter reeked with crime, with filth, and misery."
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-The phrase 'far from being waterproof' exemplifies how a basic necessity like 'shoes' are not fit for purpose which details the reality of there desperate situation.
-This is reinforced by the adjective 'scanty' describing their filthy clothes which represent their harsh reality.
Dickens use descriptions of the poor to showcase the mass depravity of society at the time
Dickens employs the description of people in poverty to present the real reason he was motivated to fight for people less fortunate than him in court. Poverty is a recurring motif in Dickens work and act as a poignant message, not only to Victorian audiences, but also the audiences of today.
Dickens utilises the dreadful circumstances of the poor to shed light on the main reason fought so valiantly for the unfortunate parts of society.
-The semantic field of poverty created by the adjectives 'crime', 'filth' and 'misery' suggests the deprivation of hygiene and the sheer struggle of the poor in the Victorian era.
-The personification of the archways 'disgorging their... and life' implies the grim surroundings of the inhabitants that live there and embodying the harsh reality of poverty.
- The alliteration of 'alleys and archways' further amplifies the unforgiving circumstances the poor are left in; tossed into the streets without any shelter.
Dickens used his knowledge of the poor to interest the Victorian readership as after reading his books they could further relate Dickens descriptions of the poor to their reality, further revealing the hardships of the poor in the Victorian era.