Angelas Ashes Essay 5

Many people have come to America for adventure, opportunity, freedom, and the chance to experience the particular qualities of the American landscape. The American Dream is the idea that every United States citizen, including immigrants and residents, should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. America somewhat provides access to the American dream, it is more so the citizen who provides access to the dream for themselves. Even though they encountered many trials and tribulations, with persistence, people such as Langston Hughes in “I Too Sing America and Anzia Yezierska in “America and I” they were able to achieve their individual American Dream.

In the article, “Voyage of Hope, Voyage of Tears” the statement, “Hope was the one guiding star that led millions of people to immigrate to America.” explains why the immigrants were optimistic. The immigrants hoped that in America they would be able to find jobs and earn enough money to buy a house and start a family, forever escaping the poverty that they faced in Europe. They knew that even though it might be tough living in steerage, they were determined to make it to their destination, and start a new life in America. No longer would the depressing grip of poverty hold them down from opportunity. Once the the immigrants arrived in New York they could finally feel the release of poverty’s binding hold and run free, across the land of golden opportunity, as if the country itself had spoken to them --“come with me--to

Although life presents you with many obstacles, if you continue to persevere, eventually you will achieve success. Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt, is a good example of this. Frank is constantly limited by his poverty. We watch him stick with his goals and eventually accomplish them in the end. He also watches his mother continually try to stretch the family budget in order to get meager amounts of food. Death is also very prevalent in this book as Frank and his family have to adjust to the death of loved ones.

The three most important scenes in my opinion were life changing not only to Francis but to his family also. The first scene is the death of baby Margaret. Francis' parents get sad and the two cousins of Angela step in and send them away to Ireland to suffer even more. The next scene I chose is when Malachy Sr. went to England (the second time) and disappears from their lives. Francis really did become the man of the house after that. The third scene I thought was important was when Francis decided not to take the exam to become a permanent messenger boy. He thought that would stop him from doing what he wanted. Two of the scenes made Francis' life harder, while the other one probably changed his life in a good way

The American Dream has always been based on the idea that each person, no matter who he or she is, can become successful in life by his or her own hard work. The dream, to desolate immigrants escaping an oppressive Europe, also embodied the idea of a self-sufficient man, an entrepreneur garnering success through his own hard work and ambition, not

In the past, immigrants would arrive to New York and could easily access their dreams if they wanted to achieve it. For instance, David Ignatow, author of Europe and America, creates an image how an immigrant, his father, escaped the poorness in Russia to have access to his dreams in America. David's "father brought the emigrant bundle of desperation and worn threads, that in anxiety as he stumbles tumble out distractedly;

In Angela's Ashes, the theme of struggling to get through life's obstacles is shown using character. In paragraph 4, McCourt writes, "You can look in people's windows and see how cozy it is in their kitchens with fires glowing or ranges black and hot everything bright in the electric light cups and saucers on the table with plates of sliced bread pounds of butter jars of jam smells of fried eggs... the mother crisp and clean in her apron everyone washed and the Sacred Heart of Jesus looking down on them from the wall suffering and sad but still happy with all that food and light and good Catholics at their breakfast." This quote shows, that the protagonist has been peering into the houses of the rich and realizes that the rich has everything they want and more. This theme shows that the main character is jealous of the rich lifestyle because they have more struggles than the rich do. In addition, this theme is also presented using events. In paragraph 5, "In a second I have

| This is how he starts out the book and it is in a way introducing you to one of the worst childhoods that you can have. It also shows you that you can go beyond your childhood and become something or do something with your life. I think it is kind of weird that one of the worst childhood to have is Irish because that would not have been the first one on my list.

successful example of American Dream. An immigrant works his way to the top  in his host

Upon receiving the Nobel Prize for his excellence in writing, William Faulkner expresses his dismay towards the writers of the day and laid out what he terms “the writer’s duty.” In his acceptance speech, Faulkner is disheartened by the fact that young writers continue to discuss “the end of man” in their work. Faulkner advocates that authors must make all efforts to “help man endure by lifting his heart.” Because man leads a difficult life, writers are obligated to use their work to uplift and inspire the reader’s sprit. In his memoir, Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt raises the reader’s spirits by illustrating that although one may have a reprobate nature,

There are many books, written by numerous authors, containing similar themes and elements. Two such stories fitting that description are Angela’s Ashes and The Street. The former takes place in Ireland and is written by Frank McCourt; the latter is set in New York and is written by Ann Petry. The characters seem like they would not have much, if anything, in common. Frank McCourt’s main character is a child, born into a large, impoverished family; Petry’s is a single mother trying to get by. Additionally, their geographical locations and the cultures in each place vary greatly. However, their stories are similar in the fact that both characters have relating struggles. The primary theme of each of their stories is close to identical. Both

Another example of immigrant achieving her dream is the former Secretary of State during the Clinton’s administration who was born in Czechoslovakia. The first woman secretary of State and the highest-ranking woman in the federal government to date, Madeleine Albright (“Madeleine K.”). She escaped the atrocities of World War II studied hard in the U.S. in pursue of her dream and went on to become one of the most respected female politicians. In this historical retro prospective one can only assume that the American dream was achieved by immigrants throughout the history.

“It is not the rich man you should properly call happy, but him who knows how to use with wisdom the blessings of the gods, to endure hard poverty, and who fears dishonor worse than death, and is not afraid to die for cherished friends or fatherland.”

The Theme of Religion in Angela’s Ashes Throughout the novel, religion is presented as being of extreme importance in Irish society, influencing the beliefs and actions of the characters. I will attempt to highlight the several factors which I believe make up the presentation of religion in “Angela’s Ashes”. From the beginning of the book, religion is said to make up a large part of the unhappy childhood Frank suffered. The following quote shows the extent of Frank’s sentiments: “Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood, is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood”

After the peak of the industrial revolution, many immigrants flooded from for the many new opportunities available in America. Although immigration was a large part of Willa Cather’s Neighbour Rosicky, another large theme Cather portrays is the perception of the American Dream, and what it truly consists of. Cather argues that although many dream of wealth and success, the true American Dream is found when one treats others with compassion and lives a simple, but wonderful life.