Angela's Ashes Summary

The story takes place in Eden Mills, Mississauga, Ontario, Eric Walters’ hometown, and it takes place in present time. This is evident by the modern technology seen in the novel, and the lack of any futuristic technology.

In McCourt's memoir, "Angela's Ashes", he uses the characters, settings, and events to develop the theme. In the quote, "We don't laugh long, there is no more bread and we're hungry, the four of us" (McCourt 1). In this quote, it is explaining how McCourt and his siblings constantly struggle with hunger due to poverty. This quote assists in developing the theme by adding in the starvation of the McCourt family which intensifies the theme of perseverance through hardhips. An example of events developing the theme is exemplified through the quote, " I can't shove all that under my jersey. Oh, God. Should I take the whole box? The people passing by pay me no attention. I might as well take the whole box. My mother would say 'you might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.' I life the box and try to look like a messenger boy making a delivery and no one says a word" (McCourt 2). This quote tells the reader the lengths McCourt was willing to go to in order to provide for his family. This develops the theme by showing how McCourt perservered through difficult times in his childhood. " 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 tables with plates of sliced bread pounds of butter jars of jam smells of fried eggs and rashers

“In awhile there are voices downstairs and there is talk of tea, sherry, lemonade, buns, and isn’t that child the loveliest little fella in the world, little Alphie, foreign name but still an’ all still an’ all not a sound outta him the whole time he’s that good-natured God bless him sure he’ll live forever with the sweetness that’s in him the little dope spittin’ image of his mother his father his grandma his little brothers dead an’ gone”(182).

In describing his atrocious childhood, Frank McCourt writes, “Two small sons starved to death.” In the novel, Angela's Ashes, McCourt portrays his life with an alcoholic father and depressed mother. McCourt uses two of several writing techniques: diction and imagery, to show the hardships of being Irish, Catholic, and poor. Angela’s Ashes is a moving and impassioned testimony of McCourt's life from childhood into early adulthood.

In the novel Angela's Ashes, (1996) by Frank McCourt, a life of poverty is the only life this family knows. It is a memoir about a young boy born in New York City. Frank, born ten months prior to his brother Malachy, was raised in a small apartment with his parents, Angela and Malachy McCourt.

The first and most important antagonist in Angela’s Ashes is Malachy McCourt. Frank McCourt described his father, Malachy, as “the Holy Trinity with three people in him, the one in the morning with the paper, the one at night with the stories and the prayers, and then the one who does the bad thing and comes home with the smell of whiskey” (210). While Malachy was an important and influential antagonist in the story, he was not always the best role model for his children. Mr. McCourt was said to be known for abandoning his family for multiple days at a time without warning or any way for them to provide for themselves. Often times Malachy would spend the majority of his paychecks on feeding his addiction, rather than feeding his children.

"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." Thus begins the highly celebrated memoir by the name of Angela's Ashes, written by Frank McCourt. In this book Frank McCourt writes about his childhood, how his parents meet in New York and then decide to return to Ireland. He describes what it is like to be at the bottom of that city's tough social hierarchy, giving vivid descriptions of how class imposes severe limitations and restrictions. It is this topic, this theme, to which I

Angela’s Ashes is an autobiographical memoir written by Irish-American author Frank McCourt. McCourt is the oldest of five brothers and one sister. He along with four of his sibling were born in America in Brooklyn, New York and lived there until he was four and then moved back to Ireland because they had a hard time surviving in America. His family and moved back to Ireland in the midst of the Great Depression finding it hard for his father to get a job because of his alcoholism and his Northern manner. Throughout McCourt’s childhood he was caught in the middle of all the hardships his parents endured. Although, his family endured much struggle, that did not stop them from fulfilling his religious duties, such as First Communion. It also did not stop him and his brother, Malachy from going to school to learn more about their religion. In his early teens, he realized that his father had abandoned his mother and his siblings when he said he would go look for a job. At the age of 14, Frank stopped going to school and got odd jobs to help support his mother and siblings. He remembers his childhood as the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. He himself decided to move back to America when he was 18 to get away from the poverty in Ireland.

The American Dream is capable of being achieved by all because America is the land of opportunity, where hard work leads to success. In Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, an Irish family encounters countless struggles despite their effort to live a good, prosperous life. Throughout his childhood, the protagonist of this novel, Francis “Frank” McCourt, strives to return to America one day, where he lived from birth to age four, to enjoy and profit from the better standard of living, social equality, and more abundant job opportunities promised to all by America. America’s standard of living is among the best in the world.

The theme of defeat in Angela's Ashes shows readers how far people are willing to go to succeed. What makes people give up? When are we defeated? In Angela's Ashes, McCourts dad is an alcoholic who basically just abandons the family. McCourt says, "Grandma says we could

     People always say, you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, and Frank McCourt is certainly an example of this. Throughout the book, he is constantly denied access to opportunities that will help to

Theme is the subject of talk, a topic, or morals that the author is trying to get across to the readers. When reading an excerpt, the theme is not directly stated in the text, so you must dig deeper into the context to understand the morals the author is trying to portray. In both Angela's Ashes and The Street, we can detect a similar theme of struggling to get through life’s obstacles. When reading the two different stories, we can further pick out the theme by using character, events, and the setting.

The case study of Angela and Adam describes a situation in which a Caucasian teenage mother, Angela, does not appear to have a bond with her 11 month old son, Adam. According to Broderick and Blewitt (2015) Angela and Adam live in the home with Angela’s mother, Sarah. Angela’s relationship with her own mother is described as a bit dysfunctional as Sarah is reported to continue to be angry with Angela for becoming pregnant in the first place. Sarah’s anger has caused her to deny Adam’s father the ability to come to the home and play an active role in Adam’s life, therefore putting more of a strain on Angela, who has already had to drop out of high school in an attempt to take care of Adam on her own. Angela has openly admitted to aggressive behavior towards Adam such as grabbing his face and handling Adam in a rough manner. In return, Adam has reacted by being avoidant of his mother and he is reported to not respond to his mother as an 11 month old child should and he is not reported to have an appropriate bond with his mother.

The novel, Angela’s Ashes took place in the 1930s in Limerick, Ireland, and details Frank McCourt’s very early childhood. The author, Frank McCourt depicts his first-hand account of his family as a dysfunctional family that grapples with poverty during a time of war. During Frank’s childhood, his father, Malachy Sr. failed to stabilize a safe and healthy environment because of his alcoholism. Because of this, Frank had to take on the role of his father in order to conquer the challenges he was faced with. Despite the lack of involvement from his father Frank was forced to mature faster. This proves that stories of adversity can serve as inspiration.

Angela takes “only the time necessary to say the name” (47) and arguably Santiago has been chosen simply by random fate; any male’s name would suffice, suggesting in a patriarchal society valuing a women strictly for virginity, all males share the blame. Angela’s appearance versus her reality is complex because while she has undeniably corrupt qualities, an admirable goodness shines through; the narrator acknowledges