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GCSE English Literature · key term
A lack of money and resources needed for basic necessities such as adequate food, clothing and warmth.
Used by AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas
Paper 1
A shortage of money and resources needed for essentials such as food, clothing, warmth and shelter.
Revise: Poverty and wealthHowever, Dickens does not suggest that poverty is desirable. Inadequate clothing, exhausting work and Tiny Tim’s threatened death show that love cannot remove material hardship. The novella’s argument is that money becomes valuable when it supports life rather than replacing human relationships.
Paper 2
Keep the question’s focus precise: poverty concerns material deprivation; wealth concerns money and possessions; social responsibility concerns what people should do for others. These themes overlap, but are not identical.
Evaluate interpretations using evidence. The Cratchits’ happiness challenges prejudice against poor people, but Tiny Tim’s threatened death prevents their poverty from seeming harmless.
Part (b): distinguish poverty from moral failure. The Cratchits’ happiness challenges prejudice, but their inadequate clothes and Tiny Tim’s threatened death show that deprivation still matters.
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In A Christmas Carol, Dickens explores both material poverty—not having enough money for necessities—and the emptiness of a life organised around wealth. Scrooge can afford comfort but denies it to himself and others. The Cratchits have affection and enjoyment but lack adequate material security.
Paper 1
Lacking enough money or resources to meet basic needs, such as adequate food, clothing and shelter.
Revise: Poverty and wealthPoverty means lacking the resources needed for a secure life; wealth can provide food, warmth and protection. Yet the wealthy Scrooge initially denies comfort to himself and others, while the poor Cratchits possess affection and generosity that he lacks. Dickens therefore explores both material poverty and poverty of spirit: an absence of love, sympathy and human connection.
Component 2
A lack of the resources needed for basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter.
Revise: Poverty and wealthHowever, Dickens does not suggest that poverty is harmless because poor people can be happy. In the London of the novella, insufficient wages mean inadequate clothing, exhausting work and vulnerability. Money matters because it can relieve suffering.
