preview

Angela's Duty In Angelas Ashes

Decent Essays

William Faulkner possesses a strong idea that a writer is given the privilege and duty of making man prevail. According to Faulkner this is the only thing that makes writing worth the effort put into it, and if an author cannot accomplish this duty there is no need for writing at all. Faulkner simplifies this complex obligation by presenting man as he really is through the “thruths of his heart,” which means including what really happens to man from “agony” to “compassion and sacrifice and endurance.” Many authors, including Frank McCourt, take on this duty and create a piece of literature that depicts man as his true self in order to assure he prevails instead of “merely edur[ing].” Frank McCourt honors this duty as a writer throughout his memoir, Angela’s Ashes. McCourt describes his journey to adult hood in a genuine way that shows not only the positive, but also the agonizing parts of his life. McCourt includes these completely contrasting types of experiences in order to help him accomplish the writer’s duty because they both involve immense amounts of feeling. The writer’s duty in McCourt’s work is expressed throughout the entire work from McCourt’s life as a child in the beginning of his memoir to the end as he becomes a true man. …show more content…

William Faulkner creates a high standard for authors to be held to by stating that the only thing that makes an author’s work good, or worth it, is for an author to exemplify man in his true light in order to be sure he prevails, and Frank McCourt does just this throughout his entire memoir, Angela’s

Get Access