A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Ignorance and Want
These allegorical children turn social problems into vulnerable human figures. Dickens makes neglect frightening while directing blame towards the society that produces it.
Read the accessible text and study notes
Ignorance and Want
These allegorical children turn social problems into vulnerable human figures. Dickens makes neglect frightening while directing blame towards the society that produces it.
Hidden beneath abundance → Revealed as neglected children → Accuse social neglect → Make the present urgent
The danger has human authors
“They are Man’s” — Ghost, Stave 3
paired with “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want.” — Ghost, Stave 3
The possessive assigns responsibility to humanity. Naming makes lack of education and material deprivation visible as children requiring care, rather than abstract defects in the poor.
A warning answered by old excuses
“Beware them both” — Ghost, Stave 3
paired with “Are there no workhouses?” — Ghost repeating Scrooge, Stave 3
The urgent imperative asks for prevention. Repeating Scrooge’s institutional answer makes its inadequacy audible at the moment their need is most exposed.
Push the argument
Ignorance receives the stronger warning, but that does not make Want harmless. The revelation occurs in Stave 3, beneath the Ghost of Christmas Present’s robe.
Recall
Why represent these social dangers as children rather than as the wealthy adults who ignore them?
Read A Christmas Carol. Scene locations are used because page numbers vary by edition.