Two grotesque children, a boy and a girl, emerge from underneath the ghost’s robes. “They are Man’s,” the Ghost of Christmas Present says. “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want.”
Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” takes the social problems the two children personify as its primary concern, holding up the Christmas spirit of kindness and Christian charity as potential salves.
The novel’s narrative arc is simple, populated with largely flat characters. Ebenezer Scrooge, a stingy old man, is visited by four ghosts on Christmas Eve. The ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley, the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come teach Scrooge the importance of generosity.
This simplicity suits the book’s role as a cute Christmas parable, but it also undermines Dickens’ attempt at social criticism. Scrooge’s eventual redemption through charity is ultimately unsatisfying, and the “happily ever after” ending rings false.  

Scrooge’s eventual redemption through charity is ultimately unsatisfying, and the “happily ever after” ending rings false.  

“A Christmas Carol” succeeds as a sentimental Christmas story along the lines of “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.” Scenes from Scrooge’s past make him a sympathetic character as he reflects on his many regrets. Dickens effectively conveys the meaninglessness of a life in pursuit of money alone, depicting Marley’s ghost dragging a steel chain made of ledgers, padlocks and cash-boxes. Scrooge’s horror when the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come reveals others’ reactions to his death is particularly vivid.
Beyond cautioning against excessive greed, though, Dickens also seeks to call attention to the plight of the working class, spotlighting the poverty of Bob Crachit, Scrooge’s underpaid clerk.
Early in the novel, Scrooge turns away a gentleman collecting donations for the destitute on the grounds that prisons, workhouses and legislation render charity unnecessary.
Dickens condemns Scrooge’s callousness and points out the insufficiency of government social welfare systems in England. Yet, by locating the solution in Scrooge’s moral reform and in the Christmas spirit, “A Christmas Carol” falls short as a work of social commentary.

Yet, by locating the solution in Scrooge’s moral reform and in the Christmas spirit, “A Christmas Carol” falls short as a work of social commentary.

In some ways, Scrooge’s perspective in the early part of the book is apt. “What’s Christmas-time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older and not an hour richer…?” he says to his nephew. A day of abundance and feasting does not truly address anyone’s hardships, and the universal holiday cheer depends upon mass willingness to participate in a temporary delusion that all is well.
In advocating for individual charity in place of true socio-economic justice, “A Christmas Carol” contains a flawed—if comforting—message. At the end of the book, Scrooge spontaneously gives Crachit a raise, and the narrator assures us that Tiny Tim, Crachit’s sick son, will survive due to Scrooge’s benevolence. Meanwhile, outside the walls of Scrooge’s home, beyond the scope of the novel, Ignorance and Want continue to roam.