Deserving poor

A historical label for poor people considered worthy of assistance because they were seen as hardworking, virtuous or unable to support themselves. Dickens presents the Cratchits in ways that challenge the assumption that poverty results from laziness.

A historical label for people judged worthy of assistance because they were considered hardworking or unable to support themselves. It reflects a judgement about poverty, not an objective division between people.

In Victorian debates about the ‘deserving poor’, such industrious behaviour could make readers more willing to recognise their claim to assistance. Dickens uses this sympathetic family to challenge an easy assumption that poverty proves laziness.

A label used to distinguish people in poverty considered morally worthy of assistance from the ‘undeserving poor’, who were judged responsible for their circumstances or insufficiently respectable. These are judgements, not objective measures of need.

Mrs Birling describes the organisation as helping “deserving cases” in Act Two. This reflects a distinction between the deserving poor, considered worthy of assistance, and the undeserving poor, judged responsible for their difficulties or insufficiently respectable. The problem is who gets to make that judgement.

A historical category for poor people considered worthy of assistance because they were seen as hardworking, respectable or unable to work. Dickens presents the Cratchits in ways that appeal to this judgement while challenging the dismissal of poor people as idle.

Calling them the deserving poor describes the way their industry and kindness challenge prejudice; it should not reduce Dickens’s message to the idea that only exceptionally virtuous people deserve compassion.

A historical category for poor people considered worthy of assistance, often because they worked hard or could not work. Dickens uses the Cratchits to challenge prejudice against poor people.

This presentation draws on the idea of the deserving poor: people whose industry or vulnerability made them seem worthy of help to readers who distinguished between supposedly deserving and undeserving poverty. Bob works, Martha is an apprentice, and Bob hopes to find employment for Peter. Their industry challenges the assumption that poor families are lazy.

Definition

How each exam board covers it

AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702

Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0

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OCR GCSE English Literature · J352

Eduqas GCSE English Literature · C720