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Book reviews: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol' was a 19th century novel written by Charles Dickens. Dickens concerns were poor children and how they were treated, he was mainly made aware of their terrible plight when he visited the Field Lane Ragged School' and was appalled at what he saw. Dickens had queries on how to release his concerns about the fate of the poor, considering producing them in the form of a pamphlet, but as he was the most popular novelist of the day he realised that more people would take notice of the poor if he wrote about them in a story. Dickens aimed his story at the wealthy, as they were the ones who could make a significant difference. Dickens wanted to make the wealthy realise what was happening and how bad it was.

The style Dickens wrote in was typical of the period because, around the 19th century most knowledge was accessed by writing, so Dickens incredible use of imagery was very effective in conveying his message and making A Christmas Carol' the popular novel it is. For example on the first page of the first stave Dickens uses a lot of complex sentences. "And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain." This use of complex sentences is very good because complex sentences are very detailed and give a lot of information to the reader, and because readers take in the information, Charles Dickens gets his message across and this is through Dickens use of complex sentences and use of imagery.

The main character in A Christmas Carol' is called Scrooge. Scrooge is a stereotype of those who had power over those who didn't. Throughout the opening stave the character of Scrooge is established and it is quite clear what he is like. For example Dickens describes the character of Scrooge: "No wind that blew was bitterer than he". This (beautiful) use of metaphorical tells the reader a lot about the character Scrooge, and that he does not have a very good attitude or personality. This is shown especially because in the winter streets of London it is very cold and for Scrooge to be more bitter than the cold air just says that he is a mean and horrible person.

So the text show what the character Scrooge is like. Dickens uses Scrooge to show one of the messages of the story. With great power comes great responsibility', and in A Christmas Carol' Scrooge is the character with the great power, and throughout the story it show the character


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