20180419

TweenTribune Smithsonian: Why Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol"

Charles Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” because he hoped the lessons would all be remembered throughout the year and boost people’s awareness of the plight of the poor in England’s Victorian period. However, there were also other reasons which the author wrote the famous book. Before he wrote the story, Dickens’ family did not have enough cash, so he needed to publish a book to earn money. Although many copies were sold, Dickens still did not achieve his money earning goal to make at least $1000. Even so, based on the writer’s personal experience in a poor school and his own childhood in poverty, he still wrote the book successfully, with positive cultural impacts. The characters in the book symbolize a group of people during the Victorian society, in which Scrooge represents the painstaking middle-class givers who did not have enough empathy. Dickens wished this group of people should donate money to charities in order to help the poor people who did not have enough cash to earn by working in prisons and workhouses. Therefore, even the author did not become rich after the book’s publication, his story still impacted the world to be richer.