Key learning points

1. Scrooge is portrayed as a miser
2. Dickens experienced poverty firsthand and dedicated his life to campaigning for better legislation to support the poor
3. Dickens uses the setting of Scrooge's lodgings to reflect his miserly nature
4. Dickens is critical towards those who lack compassion for the poor, like Scrooge
5. Scrooge represents selfish and greedy upper-middle class Victorian citizens, who showed little empathy for the poor

Keywords

• Preface - The preface comes at the beginning of a book and introduces its aims or scope.

• Impoverished - Someone impoverished would have very little money and very few possessions.

• Staves - Dickens calls his chapters ‘staves’.

• Avaricious - Being avaricious means having an extreme greed for wealth or possessions.

• Miser - A miser is a person who hoards wealth and spends as little money as possible.

Common misconception