How does Dickens use Scrooge to draw attention to the social reform that is so urgently required in Victorian England with his work, A Christmas...

With his novella A Christmas Carol, Dickens exposes the class prejudice of the Victorian era and its cruel Poor Laws, and with his characterization of the Crachits, he argues against the prevalent theory of Thomas Robert Malthus in Essay on the Principle of Population (1798).

An ardent social reformer, Charles Dickens wrote literary works that exposed such things as the plight of the orphaned, those in the workhouses, and the overall neglect and demonizing of the...

With his novella A Christmas Carol, Dickens exposes the class prejudice of the Victorian era and its cruel Poor Laws, and with his characterization of the Crachits, he argues against the prevalent theory of Thomas Robert Malthus in Essay on the Principle of Population (1798).

An ardent social reformer, Charles Dickens wrote literary works that exposed such things as the plight of the orphaned, those in the workhouses, and the overall neglect and demonizing of the poor. In A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge becomes the mouthpiece of Thomas Malthus, who argued that England's population growth would supersede food supply, so the poor had no right to live if they were not productive and could not contribute to the economy and sustain themselves. Scrooge repeatedly echoes this idea with his phrases, "Are there no workhouses?" in which to put what he considers the idle and useless poor, and his cruel retort to those who would be charitable that rather money and care being wasted on the poor, they should be allowed to simply die and "decrease the surplus population.

In Stave III, the Spirit of Christmas Present carries Scrooge to the humble home of his employee, Bob Crachit where Scrooge witnesses the loving family's humble but joyous celebration of Christmas. Especially poignant is the focus upon the crippled Tiny Tim, who exemplifies true Christian thought in his remark that he hopes those who saw him at church will be reminded of how Jesus loved the poor and healed the crippled.
Shamed after witnessing this scene, Scrooge asks the Spirit what will become of little Tim, and the Spirit replies that if "these shadows remain unaltered" the child will die.

"No, no," said Scrooge. "Oh, no kind Spirit! say he will be spared."
"If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race...will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." 
    Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted...and was overcome with penitence and grief.

Then, the Spirit scolds Scrooge:

"Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child."

So, after his experiences with this Spirit and with the Spirit of the Future, Scrooge resolves to exhibit Christian charity and love to all God's creatures. Thus, Dickens exhorts his countrymen to practice their Christian principles, as well, through reform of the Poor Laws.