Near the end of Scrooge's time with the Ghost of Christmas Present, the ghost moves the folds of his robe aside to show Scrooge two children underneath. He says,
They are Man's [...]. And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.
They are young, but instead of being beautiful and innocent and fresh, they seem pinched and shriveled as though they were much older. Instead of the dewy, beatific faces of angels, the children glare out at Scrooge like devils, quite threateningly. These are the two social evils that Dickens felt threatened humanity's future. Want, the girl, could be interpreted either as greed, the greed of people like Scrooge, or as a representation of those who suffer as a result of their poverty, those who are actually in need.
The boy, Ignorance, could likewise be interpreted in a couple of ways: he could symbolize the lack of education that can sometimes lead to poverty or he could symbolize the kind of ignorance that Scrooge claims, the ignorance that he uses to excuse himself from helping the less fortunate. When the men came to collect for the poor at the beginning of the book, for example, they told Scrooge that many of the poor would rather die than go to the workhouses and such. Scrooge responded that he "[didn't] know that." He claimed ignorance to what the poor faced because, as he says,
It's not my business [...]. It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly.
Scrooge purposely maintains his ignorance of the needs of others, and this kind of ignorance is incredibly dangerous for society.
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