“The treadmill and the poor law are in full vigour then?”

1A

At this point in the text, Scrooge refuses to donate to charity for the poor in Victorian society.

1B

Dickens conveys Scrooge’s callous nature through his questions.

1C

This shows Scrooge believes he already supports society by paying his taxes for workhouses and prisons.

2A

Here, Dickens alludes to the cruelty of the Poor Laws that criminalised poverty.

2B

The ‘treadmill’ was a feature in prisons where inmates would walk endlessly, pushing a huge wheel that would grind corn.

2C

This was a notorious Victorian ‘solution’ - the idea being that this harsh regime would discourage people from falling into poverty.

3A

The construct of Scrooge represents the selfish attitudes of the middle class who abdicate their responsibility to the community by labelling the poor as ‘idle’.

3B

Dickens highlights the unfair distribution of wealth and raises awareness of the plight of the poor to create a more empathetic Victorian society.