The Victorian Workhouse

In the 1800s, people who were poor could barely afford their own food and clothing. Workhouses contained people who were poor and had no jobs. There are also orphans, elders, and people who were physically and mentally sick or disabled. Usually workhouses were often large and feared by the poor and the old. Since non of them would want to be in them. The main purpose of a workhouse is to provide a place to live, work, and earn money for the poor. With free medical care, food to eat, clothes to wear, and a free education for children, also trainings for a job. What I found was surprising to me was that, in workhouses, almost everything that will be needed was onsite. Things like chapels, bakeries, laundries, and even small farms can be found onsite. Even though these things that were provided might make you believe that workhouses were not so bad at all, but the quality of these things are not as good as what you may think. In workhouses, families were spilt up and would be punished if they even try to speak to each other. Educations in workhouses were not the best at all, children who were in them were not educated on how to read and to write, which were two important skills for a person to have. Also, children may be sold to other factories or mines unexpectedly.
In the novel, A Christmas Carol, Scrooge might have not understood how people felt in workhouses. Scrooge has not yet experienced the state of being poor. Since he has all the money that he needed, he did not even bother to care about them.