Collaborative Analysis on Angela's Ashes

Angela’s Ashes is a remarkable memoir of the extreme poverty experienced by Frank McCourt. McCourt begins unfolding his life story from his childhood in America and Ireland and the hardships he faced with his family. The dominant idea of poverty lingers throughout the pages of Angela’s Ashes and its relevance to the exploration of themes is evident. Then the plot, setting, and the character transformation of the protagonist all support the themes of Angela’s Ashes in an orderly fashion.

Frank McCourt writes about his mother, Angela, and how he met his father, a tremendous error that would change the lifestyles of his future siblings. Their one-time encounter on a rainy day in a bar was influenced by loneliness, desire, and a trail of alcohol. McCourt hints at how his conception and his parent’s marriage was the opening incident for the miserable life of his family. His father constantly spent his wages and left his family begging on the streets and at the doorsteps of charities. Angela’s mother reminds Angela constantly of her mistake of marring Malachy; she reminds her that he is the source of all her problems. McCourt establishes the fact that it takes one gigantic wrong turn in life to change the course of one’s life.

Frank McCourt and his family have undergone a lot of desperate and difficult situations. The absence of necessary items and learning to live with what one has taught Frank gratefulness and strengthened him as a person. When he was old enough to get a job he started saving his wages, unlike his father, and eventually saved enough to go back to America. From Frank’s change in character it is evident that undergoing hardships strengthens one’s character. The themes in Angela’s Ashes are supported by the events that occur in Frank McCourt’s life. His mother, Angela, and his father, Malachy, struggle to keep their five children surviving with what little they have. McCourt’s twin brothers and baby sister die early on, yet his parents continue having children.

In hopes of a better life in America, the family move only to find that the economy there too is also dismal. They move back to their home country of Ireland to be closer to their family and perhaps accept any generosity they might offer them. To their misfortune, both Angela and Malachy’s families are reluctant to offer any support but because of their obligation due to being family, their help is to a bare minimum. Their extended family blames them for their problems. Ironically, the McCourt family’s neighbours and local grocer accommodate some of their needs more welcomingly.

The source of their monetary deficiency is due to Malachy’s alcohol addiction. He would spend all his wages drinking at the pubs every night and end up coming home singing Irish folk songs and waking his boys up to make them swear to die for Ireland. He was a patriotic man who often complained about the horrible state of Ireland because of the British.

Angela often cried at nights because of her family’s suffering and her inability to control her husband’s alcohol addiction. She could not divorce him because of her Catholic upbringing and because it was illegal in Ireland.

Knowing that he has a dim future in Ireland with his family, Frank gets a job and decides to save to move to America. When Frank turned nineteen he had saved enough to go America, which was now much more thriving than Ireland.

Although the plot greatly contributes in supporting the themes of Angela’s Ashes, setting also plays a major role. Angela’s Ashes follows McCourt’s poverty stricken childhood in Limerick, Ireland. The story takes place during the time of WWII. Readers experience the affects of Frank’s agonizing struggles alongside his family from his kindergarten years to the first turn of adulthood. Readers observe the tragedies and little triumphs throughout the fifteen years of living with his family.

In the beginning of the memoir, Frank and his family move to New York for a chance at living a fulfilled life. When the result of that decision backfires, the family moves back to their homeland of Limerick, Ireland. They stayed in Limerick for many years. Although they moved frequently at first from apartment to apartment, searching for the cheapest rent, they always remained in Limerick.

Since Angela’s Ashes revolves around the lack of food at home and the arrival of Frank’s drunk father every night, the primary setting of the memoir is in Frank’s home. In contrast to the lack of food, Frank and his siblings were forced to beg on streets and wait in long line-ups at charities. Therefore, the secondary setting is the intimate streets of Limerick.

Although Angela’s Ashes is a memoir and Frank cannot personally choose where he wants the events of his young life to occur, the location of his memoir does affect the mood of the story. The drastic rainy weather of Limerick is often mentioned as a drag. The heavy rainfall often leaks from their roof and Frank has had many excruciatingly cold nights. Also due to the constant rain, Frank could not play outside and feel like a normal child and thus the depressive state grew. The fact that Frank’s memoir is mainly set in Limerick, with its dreadful weather, contributes to the overall gloomy lifestyle of the McCourts.

The person that Frank becomes supports one of the themes of his memoir, which is that undergoing difficult situations strengthens character. Since Angela’s Ashes is a memoir of Frank McCourt’s life, he is the protagonist and thus advances his own life story forward. As the events of his life unfold, readers witness the changes of character Frank goes through as he experiences these events. The antagonist of Angela’s Ashes is Frank’s father since he hindered Frank from leading a normal life.

Frank McCourt has been described as having “the odd manner” like his father who is from the North of Ireland. This behaviour is the distinguishing point of Frank from his other brothers, despite the fact that he is the eldest. “The odd manner” is Frank’s reactions to particular situations and the overall impression he leaves on people. For example, he would sit on the seventh step leading to their apartment and speak to an imaginary angel, asking for the health and vitality of his family. He continued doing this until he was twelve, which is well past the normal time for children to believe in mythical beings.

While Malachy, Frank’s brother, was adored and smothered with love, Frank was a boy to be frowned at as he resembled his father so impeccably. Angela’s mother and sister loathed Frank’s father, a man of lower class and honour and since Frank looked like him, they disliked Frank by extension. This is all ironic because Frank was a typical five year old boy with average height and weight. As he got older, Frank maintained his common weight although he was unable to upgrade his dingy clothes to more respectable attire.

Even though his appearance was dispiriting for his mother’s side of the family, Frank made up for it in intelligence. He was encouraged by his teachers to pursue stronger academic achievements because he had the unique capability for it. Frank showcased an outstanding ability for higher thinking and was even recommended to attend a prestigious school. There were a lot of downfalls in Frank’s life, but he was not concerned. Throughout Frank’s atrocious lifestyle growing up, he was indifferent to it all. While he experienced discomfort and was deprived of a happy life, Frank merely felt disappointed and then quickly converted that feeling to immense hope.

Frank’s hope along with his powerful devotion to God and his Catholic upbringing made Frank a highly spiritual individual. He would often feel great remorse for his sins and rush to the church for the confessionals. While there he would pray deeply to the saint he needed the most at the time and light a candle. His life decisions revolved around what his religion would respond to it, but as he reached his late teens, he loosened the ties and became less devout.

Frank McCourt underwent a common change from a pure innocent soul to one which has sinned greatly. He changed from someone who was afraid to sin to someone who cared more about exploring the countless possibilities of life than demonstrating bad behaviour.

Angela’s Ashes revolves mainly around the themes of how one grand mistake will change the course of your life and how difficult situations forces people to become stronger. These themes are in themselves powerful yet Frank McCourt’s life strongly supports these themes. More specifically, the plot supports the themes and the setting along with the character metamorphosis adds the finishing touches to make the themes appear more effective and convincing.