Context

The Victorian context of A Christmas Carol: poverty in 1840s London, the Poor Law and workhouses, Malthus, child labour,
Dickens's own childhood and his campaigning, and the Victorian Christmas.
How to use this context in an answer about the novella rather than as background.
'Stave' as a verse of a song: the novella as a carol in five verses.
Dickens's visit to the Field Lane Ragged School and the 1843 report on children's employment, and his Manchester speech of October 1843.

What you need to know