Ignorance and Want
Study notes in a reading layout. Choose the text size and page colour that work for you.
Who are they?
Two allegorical children concealed beneath the Ghost of Christmas Present’s robe. The boy represents ignorance and the girl deprivation; both expose human neglect rather than speaking themselves.
Actions and development
Stave 3: concealment: The children remain beneath the spirit’s robe while Scrooge sees Christmas celebrations.
Audience / reader: Readers initially share the festive atmosphere without seeing the need hidden within the same society.
Stave 3: exposure: The spirit opens its robe to reveal a neglected boy and girl.
Audience / reader: The sudden change from abundance to deprivation may shock readers and unsettle a comfortable Christmas.
Stave 3: naming and warning: The spirit names the children, assigns them to humanity and warns especially against the boy.
Audience / reader: Readers connect suffering with neglect and poor education, rather than treating the children as naturally monstrous.
Stave 3: the final questions: Scrooge asks about refuge; the spirit repeats his answers about prisons and workhouses.
Audience / reader: Visible need makes readers hear the cruelty and inadequacy of the apparently practical institutional answers.
What others say or describe — “Yellow, meagre, ragged”
Narrator about the children · Stave 3
Method: Accumulating physical adjectives
The list records deprivation on their bodies. The disturbing description turns distant social problems into an immediate encounter with vulnerable children.
What others say or describe — “They are Man’s”
Ghost of Christmas Present about the children · Stave 3
Method: Possessive construction
Humanity is assigned responsibility for the children. Their condition is connected with a shared human world rather than an external supernatural evil.
What others say or describe — “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want.”
Ghost of Christmas Present about the children · Stave 3
Method: Allegorical naming
Education and material need take human forms. The names make social conditions visible without granting either child an independent speaking voice.
What others say or describe — “Beware them both”
Ghost of Christmas Present about the children · Stave 3
Method: Urgent imperative
The warning links neglected need with danger for everyone. The stronger warning about Ignorance does not make Want harmless.
Structure and dramatic choices
Their revelation is delayed until late in the present-day journey, disrupting the spirit’s earlier associations with welcome, warmth and plenty.
They remain silent allegorical figures rather than developing individuals; the spirit’s naming and Scrooge’s questions organise the encounter.
Relevant context
Setting: the end of the present Christmas visit, not Scrooge’s childhood or the later visions of the future.
For Victorian readers in 1843, the children connect debates about poverty, education and institutional relief with a shared responsibility for vulnerable lives.
Check your understanding
Why is the revelation delayed until after the celebrations?
How do the names make social problems personal?