This poem is from Punch, a journal that we are accustomed to associate with satire. What, if anything, is being satirized here? The pauper himself? His attitudes toward Christmas (and what could, potentially, be seen as reckless spending on that day)? The society that has created the pauper and left him only one day for enjoyment? Does Dickens's portrayal of Bob Cratchit seem similar to that of the figure being represented in the poem?
If anything is being satirized in this article, in my opinion it is the the society that created the pauper. I envision a family just like the Cratchits speaking as the narrator in this article. The narrator is almost too happy about Christmas, which makes me believe that something is being satirized.
ReplyDeleteHowever, even though the pauper seems to be mocked in the article, I think the intention of this is because society made him this way and put him in this position. His ignorance and blissful happiness in this article makes the reader sympathize with him, even if the reader cannot relate.
The dramatic swings in each paragraph are too incredible to be real. It even sounds as if the pauper were laughing at the rest of society that they think a pauper's life resembles such a thing on Christmas.
I definitely agree with Maria that there's a sense that the poem is satirizing the society that tells the pauper to celebrate (and eat well) only one day out of the year. The poem suggests this through these lines -- "After labor's long turmoil/Sorry fare and frequent fast/Two and fifty weeks of toil/Pudding time is come at last!" The exaggeration throughout the poem heightens the sense of sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteI also think the poem criticizes the tendency for religious people to focus on the holidays rather than doing good the rest of the year. The repetition of the line, "Christmas comes but once a year!" stresses the idea that Christian principles are required to come out then, but not any other day of the year, illustrated by, "fed upon the coarsest fare/three hundred days and sixty-four/But on for one viands rare/Just as if I wasn't poor."
To me, the entire poem is a satire of the poverty in England. The poem appears to be lighthearted due to its rhyme scheme, but deals with "labour's long turmoil, Sorry fare and frequent fast." Despite the lighthearted tone the reader is still given images of poverty. The "pauper" describes all the wonderful foods associated with Christmas, but immediately comes the line "I hardly know" suggesting that even during Christmas the pauper remains in impoverished conditions. In fact the only thing the speaker does know is life with "diet scant and usage rough" and the worry of future provisions. The poem seems to mock the idea that for one day, Christmas day, poverty disappears.
ReplyDeleteThis is a bit different from the description of the Cratchit's. They remain in poverty but the Christmas spirit is genuine. As the narrator notes "there was nothing of high mark" in the Cratchit's Christmas dinner, "but they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time" (Dickens 49). For Dickens the Christmas spirit represents a genuine experience that does not require wealth in order to enjoy. The author of the Punch article seems to criticize this idea.
The poem, to me, provides a scathing portrait of English society--not merely for its poverty, but for the callousness of its wealthier residents. The speaker asks, "Ought not I to bless my stars, Warden, clerk, and overseer?" This address seems to imply that the impoverished masses are expected to be grateful, to be wholly satisfied with a slight reprieve from their suffering. On this one day, they are "treated like a welcome guest, one of Nature's social chain,” but are, presumably, treated with indifference or scorn during the better part of the year. The speaker further states that Christmas is "Charity's perennial treat.” He suggests that the poor are being granted a sort of kindness by being allowed to celebrate, thereby satirizing the blinkered ignorance of Britain’s upper classes.
ReplyDeleteEbenezer Scrooge initially espouses caricatured version of this sentiment. When asked to donate to a charity, he responds with, “Are there no prisons?” and then, “Are [Union workhouses] still in operation?”
As I read this poem, I felt that the satire was being placed on both the society's view of poverty in England, as well what Elena said about the religious in England.
ReplyDeleteThe repetition of "Christmas comes but once a year" seemed to be a commentary on both the impoverished and some that claim to be religious. The idea that Christmas comes only once a year and that on this day and this day only, people spend a lot of money, eat a lot of food, and act as if they have more money than they do. This idea seems somewhat crazy considering what Christmas actually is. With that being said, those that claim to be religious and see Christmas only as a day of feasting have missed the point of Christmas as well; likewise, they may be choosing to only be of the Christmas spirit during Christmas time and go back into their regular lives during the rest of the year.
This seems to be satirizing what Christmas is for society, and what people feel that they should be doing on Christmas.