What do the children "Want" and "Ignorance'' symbolize in A Christmas Carol?

Ignorance, the boy, can
be interpreted as symbolizing the ignorance that keeps the poor, in Victorian England, poor.
Without education, what chance can they have of bettering their situation? If people are
ignorant, it is hard for them to know what to do to find a job, to know how to keep a job, and
so on. If, however, the poor are given a chance to be educated, and to feel the care of society
at large, then they will be much better positioned to help themselves. Want, the girl, can be
interpreted as symbolizing the sheer lack of resources and the need experienced by the poor.
Although we often associate "want," in the twenty-first century, as a pure desire for
something that we do not actually need, the word itself does mean to be
needy or to have unmet needs. The Victorians would have understood want
to...