Good morning.

My name is Ms Halliday and welcome to today's lesson.

It's lovely to see you all back here again.

And I'm really looking forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions for today.

So let's get started.

So today's lesson is called, Stave 3: Ignorance and Want.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain the significance of the character's, Ignorance and Want.

Who we'll be discussing in a lot more detail in today's lesson.

You'll also be able to explain how Dickens uses them to convey his message of social responsibility.

So let's get started.

Here are some key words that you'll need, in order to unlock today's learning.

We've got, moral, dependent, to corrupt, to neglect and hypocrisy.

Here are the keyword definitions.

If you need a little bit longer to read them, then feel free to pause the video and read them at your own pace.

And here's our lesson structure for today.

We're going to begin by looking at children more generally in "A Christmas Carol." And tracking them across the text.

We're then going to zoom in and look a little bit more closely at the characters of Ignorance and Want, who are also of course, children.

So let's start by looking more generally, at children in "A Christmas Carol." So children and childhood are a real essential theme of the novella.

And that's because Dickens was fascinated by the impact that childhood had on a person's adult life.

Here's a quotation by Dickens, that summarises his perspectives on childhood.

"The dreams of childhood.

It's airy fables, it's graceful, beautiful, humane, impossible adornments of the world beyond, so good to be believed-in once, so good to be remembered when outgrown." So using that quotation and what you know of the text, I'd like you to discuss the following three questions.

First of all, what does the word, childhood, mean to you specifically? What was Dickens' attitude towards childhood? And you might look back at the quote, in order to gauge what you think Dickens thought about childhood.

So you can use that quote to help you here.

And finally, well, what might Dickens have considered to be a happy childhood? And what would that look like to him? So I'm gonna invite you now to pause the video while you have those conversations.

Some fantastic discussions.

And what we're going to see now, is a conversation that two of our students here at Oak, just had in response to those three questions.

So observe and see whether you got any of the same ideas that they did.

So one student said, "Charles Dickens believed that children were born innocent and that wicked adults had been corrupted by their life experiences over time." And our student, Izzy replies, "Dickens believed that childhood was a magical time where one's imagination and potential knows no bounds.

He believed that children should be ignorant to the injustices and suffering around them and should live a carefree life for as long as possible." And our student, Alex replies, "He believed strongly that a person's childhood should be free from anxiety, stress and woe.

And that children should be able to be dependent upon their parents for food, shelter and love." Now based on Alex and Izzy's conversation, I'd like you to discuss, well, why do you think Dickens felt this way about childhood? What might have caused his attitudes and beliefs about childhood? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video, while you have that further conversation and before we see Izzy and Alex's ideas.

Again, some great ideas there.

And I can see some people really drawing connections between Dickens' attitudes towards childhood and his own experiences as a young boy.

And you're absolutely right to do so.

Because Dickens' experience as a child, massively influenced his ideas about what a good childhood should look like.

So let's hear again, from Alex and Izzy.

And let's hear their ideas and opinions on Dickens and why Dickens felt this way about childhood.

So Alex states, "Dickens had a difficult childhood himself.

His father was sent to debtors' prison and he had to get a job in a nearby factory to support his family." And Izzy replies, "So Dickens' childhood wasn't the innocent, carefree and happy childhood he believed every child was entitled to.

Well, that must have been very difficult for him.

It's easy to see why he's so concerned with childhood and its impact upon adulthood in the novella." So let's check for understanding.

What did Dickens believe about childhood? Did he believe that, A, experiencing injustice in childhood might make the child a resentful adult? Is it, B, that childhood just doesn't have an impact upon an adult's life? Is it, C, that children needed to support their families in the workhouses.

Or is it, D, that children were entitled to a carefree and innocent childhood? I'll give you a little hint here and tell you, that you are actually looking for more than one answer to this question.

So what I'm going to do is, invite you to pause the video while you jot down the letters that correspond to the answers that you'd like to submit as your own.

So off you go.

And a massive well done to those of you and I can see that lots of you got these answers.

So excellent work.

You're absolutely right, that Dickens believed that experiencing injustice in childhood, might make a child a resentful adult.

You're also right, in identifying that Dickens believed that children should be entitled to a carefree and innocent childhood.

So well done for remembering those so well.

So Dickens believed that the key to a moral and upstanding society, was in fact, a carefree and innocent childhood.

He believed that children were the future of society and that children needed to be protected from injustice, in order to grow up as moral and socially responsible adults.

So what I'd like you to discuss now, is, I'd like you to think, well, who are the children that we meet in "A Christmas Carol?" Can you make a list of them? And then I'd like you to think, well, do you think that these children live carefree and innocent lives? Why or why not? So I'm going to invite you to pause the video for a few moments now, while you have those discussions.

Some really useful discussions there.

And what I'd like you to do, is take the ideas that you've just shared and in fact, received and use them to help you complete this activity.

So what I'm going to ask you to do now, is I'm going to ask you to complete the grid below and explain how Dickens presents children in the novella.

So what I've done here, is, on the left hand side, I've listed some of the children that we meet in "A Christmas Carol." So we've got, Young Scrooge, Peter and Martha Cratchit and Tiny Tim Cratchit.

What you are going to do, is populate the two columns on the right.

So you're going to tell me where we meet them and what kind of life do they have.

And is this life reflective of the childhood that Dickens felt every child was entitled to? So I'm going to show you an example, first of all, with Young Scrooge.

And then I'm going to set you off on your own.

So here's our example.

We first meet Young Scrooge in stave two.

Where we see him as a young boy, neglected by his friends and his father.

Now in terms of the life that Young Scrooge has, well, he doesn't have that carefree life that Dickens felt every child was entitled to because he only has himself to depend on.

He's neglected and therefore, he has to read, as a form of escapism.

Because he is lonely.

And reading and meeting characters, allows him to feel some level of interaction with others.

And that's really sad.

It makes me very upset when I read that part of the text.

But what we can establish and discern, is that Young Scrooge really didn't have the childhood that Dickens felt every child was entitled to.

Okay.

So what I'd like you to do now, is pause the video and have a go at populating the rest of the grid, with your ideas about how Dickens presents children in the novella.

So off you go.

Well done, some fantastic effort there.

And I'm seeing some really, really full grids.

You've done so well with the activity and you should be really proud.

So let's have a look at some of the things you might have said.

Obviously we've already been through the Young Scrooge example.

So I'm going to pick up from Peter Cratchit, for feedback.

So we first meet Peter Cratchit in stave three.

And we're told that Peter Cratchit, likely knew the inside of a pawnbroker's.

And what that means, is that Peter Cratchit was probably no stranger to trading in his possessions for money, in order to help his family.

Now again, that's really sad, okay.

Because it shows Peter Cratchit's lack of innocence in his childhood.

He has directly witnessed the poverty of his family and he clearly does whatever he can to support them.

Okay, so he might be, you know, pawning some of his prized possessions and then bringing the money home to support the family.

We're also told that Bob has a quote, "situation," lined up for Peter, which again shows how much impoverished members of Victorian society had to rely upon their children, as a means of additional income.

And that's really sad.

Now again, Martha Cratchit, part of the same family, we meet her in stave three as well.

And we're told that she's a poor apprentice.

So again, here we learn that Martha Cratchit supports her family, through her job.

And she's an additional source of income for the Cratchit family.

Again, that makes us quite sad because this is not the carefree or independent, sorry, dependent lifestyle that Dickens really wishes for children to have.

Rather than her depending on her family, they actually have to depend on her for income, okay.

So she is not dependent upon her family.

And therefore she's not innocent to the suffering and the impact of poverty.

And finally, if we look at Tiny Tim.

Again, another member of the Cratchit family.

We meet him in stave three and we learn that he is disabled and that his life is slowly, quote, "withering away." Again, unfortunately, Tiny Tim does not live the carefree lifestyle that Dickens was advocating for, for children because his disability means that he has a lot more challenges to face and this makes him entirely dependent on his family for support.

So as we can see here, none of the children in the novella, have the carefree and innocent childhood that Dickens felt was really essential in cultivating more moral and socially responsible adults.

And that's really sad.

And perhaps in showing us this, Dickens is highlighting one of the issues with society and it's this lack of innocence in childhood that makes children predisposed to growing up and perhaps being immoral or criminal because they have no choice.

Because they are so poor or they're so neglected, that they turn their backs on society.

Or they have to resort to these extreme measures, in order to survive.

So well done if your grid resembles the one on screen.

Excellent work.

So let's move on now and look more specifically at the characters of Ignorance and Want.

And we're going to start by looking at an extract from the text.

So I'll read it and you need to be following along on screen.

"From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children, wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable.

They knelt down at its feet and clung upon the outside of its garment.

Oh, man! Look here.

Look, look down here! Exclaimed the Ghost.

They were a boy and girl.

Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish.

But prostrate too, in their humility.

Where graceful youth should have filled their features out and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched and twisted them and pulled them into shreds.

Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked and glared out menacing.

No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread." So let's check for understanding.

How are the two children that emerged from under the spirit's robe described? Are they described as, A, hideous, with a foul stench? B, immaculately-presented and cheerful.

Or C, animalistic and horrifying? Again, I'm gonna invite you to pause the video, while you jot your answer down.

And well done if you correctly identified that the answer is in fact, C.

They are indeed presented as animalistic and horrifying.

And we're going to have a little bit of a look, as to why, in a moment.

So well done.

Let's carry on reading.

Again, I'll read, if you follow along.

"Scrooge started back, appalled.

Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to such a lie of enormous magnitude.

Spirit! Are they yours? Scrooge could say no more.

They are Man's, said the Spirit, looking down upon them.

And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers.

This boy is Ignorance.

And this girl is Want.

Beware them both and all of their degree but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.

Deny it! Cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city.

Have they no refuge or resource? Cried Scrooge.

Are there no prisons? Said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words.

Are there no workhouses?" Again, before we move on, let's check your understanding of what you've just read.

So which explanation best describes where the two children come from? Is it A, they are the spirit's personal slaves? Is it B, they are the products of mankind's sins? C, they are birthed from Scrooge's, avarice? Or is it D, they are a representation of unwanted gifts? So I'm going to do now again, is invite you to pause the video, while you jot down the answer that you would like to submit as the correct one.

So off you go.

And well done if you identified that they are in fact, the products of mankind's sins.

Really good understanding comprehension from the extract we've just read, well done.

So what we're going to do now, is have a look at Dickens's description of Ignorance and Want, in a little bit more detail.

And focus in on three quotations.

So first of all, this quotation here, "They were a boy and a girl.

Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish but prostrate, too, in their humility." And I'd like you to discuss, well, what is the effect of Dickens' use of the words, yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling and wolfish? And I'd like you to explore the connotations of each of these words.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video, while you have a go at that activity.

And before we share some ideas together.

So off you go.

Fantastic work.

And let's see some of the ideas you might have got.

So you might have talked about this word, "yellow" and the fact that actually, nobody's skin should be of a yellow colour because if it is, then people would assume that you were ill.

So here Dickens uses that word, "yellow," to describe the colour of these children, to make them appear poorly.

Okay.

And that's representative of the idea that they are sick with mankind's disease and sins.

Again, that word, "meagre," we've definitely heard that word before.

And it was to describe, kind of, Scrooge's meal.

And it's reminiscent of his lifestyle and his miserliness.

Okay.

And the fact that he's left wanting.

And here, these children are also described as meagre, not only to suggest that they are the product of mankind's sins and that people like Scrooge are responsible for them but it also shows how impoverished and how starved these children are.

Okay.

And again, that makes us as a reader, feel really uncomfortable here because no children should ever be left in this condition.

Okay.

And we can see here, the level of neglect that these children have faced.

I also noticed that some of you had picked out this word, "ragged" and had talked about the fact that it suggests that these children are uncared for and neglected.

And again, that is by mankind.

Like Scrooge, through his lack of charity, through his lack of generosity, have created these really neglected and starved children.

This word, "scowling," reflects the fact that they are angry, hateful and resentful.

And actually, we know that this was one of Dickens' key concerns for society, that children who face this kind of neglect, would grow up to be really hateful and resentful.

And we see that hatred and that resentment already starting to develop in these children.

And we can almost predict the trajectory of their growth and see how they would end up, you know, turning to criminality or immorality and turning their backs on society, in order to survive in this very, very cruel society that they've been brought up in.

Now that word, "wolfish," I think, is possibly one of my favourite words that Dickens uses to describe these children.

Because it creates such vivid imagery of these children as animalistic.

Because Dickens is really suggesting that their humanity has been completely stripped away by the cruelty and the neglect that they have faced as a result of society.

So here we see them dehumanised.

Okay, their lack of humanity.

Because they have not been shown any human kindness themselves.

And so they've almost adopted that, kind of, wolfish persona, as a method of protection against mankind's cruelty and neglect.

So well done if you've got any of those ideas.

Really impressed with your work.

Let's have a look at another quotation.

So we've got this, "Stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched and twisted them and pulled them into shreds.

Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked and glared out menacing." So again, I'd like you to discuss, well, what could the verbs, "pinched," "twisted" and "pulled" show about these children? And where have we seen these words before? So where have we seen "shrivelled" and "pinched" before? And what's the significance of that repetition from Dickens? So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video, while you discuss the answers to those questions.

And before we share some suggestions.

Again, some really great annotations there.

And I'm going to share some of the ideas that I saw, that I liked the best.

So first of all, we have these verbs, "pinched," "twisted" and "pulled".

And these verbs reflect the idea that these children have been modelled and sculpted in society's image.

Okay.

They are a reflection or a projection of everything that is wrong with society, in Dickens' eyes.

And they show the impact that neglect and injustice has on children.

And this idea that neglect and injustice moulds these children into resentful and hateful adults.

Now in terms of these words, "shrivelled" and "pinched" and where we've heard them before, well they're really reminiscent of Scrooge's description, in stave one, okay.

He had, you know, shrivelled cheeks and pinched nose, okay.

And people like Scrooge are responsible for these children.

And that's what Dickens is really trying to show us here.

So in creating this kind of mirroring between the appearance of these children and Scrooge's appearance, he's almost suggesting that Scrooge has fathered these children, through his selfishness and through his miserliness.

And that people like Scrooge are responsible for the state of these children.

And the fact that they are in society at all.

And secondly, in the last line, "Where angels might have sat enthroned and devils lurked." Here the children are presented as devilish and evil.

And again, it's the idea they are full of hatred and resentment for the world.

And these children, Ignorance and Want, they are an epitomization of Dickens' fears for society.

Dickens was so worried that children who were, you know, exposed to the injustice and inequality in the world, would grow up to resent the society that had created that injustice and inequality and turn their backs on it, in the most appalling manner.

So here, the children, Ignorance and Want, are representative of this fear of Dickens.

And our final quotation that we're going to look at, is here.

"They are Man's.

Said the spirit, looking down upon them.

And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers.

This boy is Ignorance and this girl is Want.

Beware them both and all of their degree.

But most of all the wear this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom." So again, I'd like you to discuss, well, why do you think Dickens emphasises that Ignorance is worse than Want? And what is he saying about society then? So again, I'll invite you to pause the video while you make some quick annotations and before we share our ideas together.

Again, some really fantastic work.

I'm seeing lots of annotations, all around this quotation, which is fantastic to see.

So I really liked one person's idea, that actually, the spirit inform Scrooge that the children are the product of mankind's sins.

And because Scrooge doesn't have biological children, that these children in society are still his responsibility.

Okay.

So even though he doesn't have his own children, Dickens is suggesting that he should still have taken some social responsibility and ensured that these children were looked after and cared for, through the provision of charity and goodwill.

Now, by being ignorant, Scrooge has neglected his social responsibility and he has actually nurtured or fathered, inequality, injustice and suffering.

And that therefore makes Ignorance and Want, his children, in a way.

Because he is the one who has nurtured these children.

He's brought them up, through his neglect of his social responsibility.

And finally, Dickens is showing us here that Ignorance is worse than Want because actually, Ignorance is what leads to the destruction of morality.

Okay.

By turning your back on people who are suffering, you are actively preventing society from helping them.

Through deliberately withholding charity and generosity from these people, you are exacerbating their situation.

Okay.

And that is what Dickens is trying to illustrate to us.

He's saying, Ignorance is the worst of all because A, it's deliberate and B, it prevents any aid being given to these kinds of people that really need support.

So you are actually making their childhood worse.

You are going to make them more resentful and more hateful adults because you are ignoring their suffering.

Okay.

And that's a real jab at the middle and upper classes in Victorian society here.

Because we know that Dickens felt that they were the people who were ignoring the suffering most, of the poor.

So Dickens is here suggesting that people's ignorance will be the undoing of civilization.

It will doom society if it is allowed to continue.

So here Dickens is really illustrating the severe and deeply, you know, damaging impact, of neglect and willful ignorance on society.

So well done if you've got any of those ideas.

So here is another quotation.

And you're not going to necessarily analyse it but you're going to use it to answer some questions.

So make sure you're listening as I read it.

"Have they no refuge or resource? Cried Scrooge.

Are there no prisons? Said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words.

Are there no workhouses?" So again, as I said, using the quotation, I would like you to answer the following two questions.

You can also use the previous quotations we've covered, to help you.

So your first question is, what does Scrooge learn from seeing these children? And what is Dickens trying to teach us through the characters of Ignorance and Want? So remember, you can use any of the previous quotations we've covered and also the one on screen now, to answer the following questions.

So I'm going to invite you to pause the video, while you have a go at that activity.

And before we feed some ideas back.

So off you go.

Some fantastic effort there.

So here's some of the things you might have said.

So you could have said, in terms of what Scrooge learns from seeing these children, you could have said this.

"When Scrooge sees these children, he feels simultaneously horrified and sympathetic and asks whether they have any refuge or resource.

This shows that Scrooge understands their plight and suffering and ironically, seems to want to help them.

When the spirit turns on him with his own words, Scrooge's hypocrisy is highlighted and he realises that he is responsible for the condition of these children.

He has contributed to their suffering through his wilful ignorance and neglect of other people.

It's in this moment that Scrooge realises, not only the individual consequences of his actions but the implications these actions have on society as a whole." So we've already seen, kind of, the impact, individually, that Scrooge's actions have on individuals like, Bob Cratchit and his family.

But it's at this moment when he sees Ignorance and Want, that he recognises the damage that this is doing to the whole of society.

And just how harmful his attitudes and his mindsets are.

In terms of the second question.

What is Dickens teaching us through the characters of Ignorance and Want? Well, you might have said that, "Through the characters Ignorance and Want, Dickens illustrates the corruptive nature of injustice and neglect on society, suggesting that without compassion and empathy, society is doomed.

Ignorance and Want represent society and they are therefore mankind's children because they have been shaped and moulded by the cruelty and injustice of inequality.

Dickens therefore highlights our moral necessity to protect children from misery and Want, so that they don't grow up to become resentful adults, who are forced into criminality and wickedness because they inhabit the literal and the metaphorical shadows of society." So here Dickens is really showing us the profound impact that this kind of injustice and equality has on children.

Because they learn that life isn't fair.

And they therefore have to take matters into their own hands and become forced into a life of criminality and wickedness because there's nowhere else for them to turn.

So Dickens is really showing us the necessity of our social responsibility and the fact that we need to protect these children from learning about the world and learning how unfair it is, at too young of an age.

So well done if you got those ideas, really impressed.

So to summarise the learning from today, well, Dickens believed that the key to a moral and upstanding society, was a carefree and innocent childhood.

But unfortunately, many of the children in the novella, do not live this innocent or carefree life.

Rather or in fact, they either depend on themselves or they are dependent on by others, like their family.

Just like the Cratchit family.

Dickens worried that children who knew too much about the world and its injustices, would grow up to become resentful adults and that they might turn their backs on society.

Now Ignorance and Want represent this idea.

And they represent society themselves because they've been shaped and moulded by the cruelty and the injustice of inequality.

Dickens uses these two characters to highlight our moral necessities to protect children from misery and Want.

So that they don't grow up to become resentful adults, who are forced into criminality and/or immorality.

I'd like to thank you for coming to today's lesson and engaging so actively in your learning.

I've been really impressed with everything that you've contributed today.

So, massive well done, big pat on the back for you guys.

Thank you for attending and I hope to see you next time.

Have a lovely rest of your day.