Michael Slater : `` A Christmas Carol '' used Ignorance and Want to warn of poverty 's effect . He says Dickens thought education , health reform could stem social decline . The book is a classic tale about the poor being exploited by greedy rich people who exploit them for their own benefit. Slater : Dickens dropped Ignorance and Want from his hugely popular public reading version of the `` Carol '' ( performed from 1858 onward ) , though he never stopped calling attention to the national scandal of the scavenging hordes of starving , uncared-for street children in London and Britain 's other great cities ( the first Education Act , which brought in compulsory state education at the elementary level for all working-class children , was passed in the year of his death ) . Heed book 's social warning as much as its goodwill message .
Michael Slater : `` A Christmas Carol '' used Ignorance and Want to warn of poverty 's effect . He says Dickens thought education , health reform could stem social decline . The book is a classic tale about the poor being exploited by greedy rich people who exploit them for their own benefit. Slater : Heed book 's social warning as much as its goodwill message .