Study Guide

Charles Dickens’
A Christmas Carol
Lecture 1
Introduction:
“A Ghost Story of Christmas”

Suggested Readings

● Dwight Lindley, Introduction, A Christmas Carol

Outline

0:00-4:10 — Historical Background

● Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol in 1843 in an England recently transformed by the
Industrial Revolution.
o The Industrial Revolution spurred advancements in agricultural and industrial
technologies, urbanization, and the growth of poverty in large cities.
o Dickens, who grew up among these lower classes, was moved by the stories of the people
who lived in the slums and shanty towns that sprung up almost overnight.
o These slums were filled with heart-wrenching stories of orphans and children forced to
work in appalling conditions.

4:11-9:46 — Dickens’ Motivations

● Dickens was no stranger to poverty. When he was 12 years old, his parents were taken to debtors’
prison, and he had to work at a factory to provide for himself.
● In May 1842, a report on The Condition and Treatment of the Children Employed in the Mines and
Collieries of the United Kingdom was published.
o Dickens was shocked by the Commission’s account of working conditions for children.
o His first thought was to write a political exhortation to raise donations for the children,
but he decided that a work of fiction would do more to open his countrymen’s hearts.

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 ● Although Dickens needed money at the time, he wanted his book to be both beautiful and
affordable, so he produced it at a high cost and sold it at a low price. The slim profit margin
prevented him from making much money, despite the popularity of the book.

9:47-16:41 — Literary Background

● Although a short novella, A Christmas Carol is a complex book that combines many genres. It is:
o a carol, divided into musical staves.
o a ghost story with Christmas hauntings.
o a conversion narrative.
o a dream vision.
o a work of realism that portrays the gritty life of London in 1843.

Discussion Questions

How did the Industrial Revolution create the conditions that inspired Dickens to write A Christmas
Carol?

Did Dickens make the right decision to write a work of fiction rather than a political tract to draw
attention to the working conditions of London in the 1840s?

What is the most important genre or element at play in A Christmas Carol?

Notes

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