Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Angela’s Ashes is a novel concerning Frank McCourt and his family. As the text progresses however, it becomes increasingly focused on Frank himself. Frank McCourt is also the Narrator of the book, and it would be considered his autobiography. In the book, it is essentially his life story of when he was a child, to when he became an adult. Frank’s parents met in Brooklyn, New York, which was also where he was born. After Angela becomes pregnant with Frank, she marries Malachy, Frank’s father. The situation involved in this book was very typical in depression era Ireland (the problems mirrored many other places in the world however). Many fathers would drink their money away, leaving their usually large families to starve. Frank was diagnosed with typhoid fever at a young age, and was forced to stay in a hospital for several months. That is when was introduced to Shakespeare, which most likely led to his successful writing career today.
America was in bad shape during this time period. The Great Depression had just hit, leaving millions of families broke, or even worse. There was a great wave of disease, psychological problems, which ultimately led to suicide among many people. Later into the book, World War II was approaching, and many fathers from Ireland traveled to England for work, sending the money back to their families. Malachy decided to go as well, but never sent money home. It was up to Frank to get a job and support his family. At this time in the world, this was a very stereotypical situation for most families, which eventually led to child labor laws, including minimum wage.
The consistent setting in the story is Limerick, Ireland, although Frank describes how his parents met in Brooklyn briefly at the beginning of the book. . At this time in Limerick, or rather Ireland in general, disease is sweeping across the city. With the extreme poverty from the great depression, people aren’t being health conscious in the least bit. Most people didn’t take showers for weeks, months, or years. This allowed bacteria to rapidly multiply, causing problems you see in Frank’s family. Frank came down with Typhoid fever at a young age. Today, they fatality rate is only 20%, but in 20th century Ireland, and the little antibiotics they had knowledge of, it was much, much higher. Angela has a miscarriage, most likely because of malnutrition, and Frank’s two younger brother’s wind up dying. All the while, Frank’s father is drinking the money away.
I believe the main message throughout the book is to give another insight into the great depression in other areas of the world, saying that it was generally the same effect in many different parts of the world. It describes that yes, it was terrible, but families fortunately made it through, some even becoming successful, like Frank himself. It has a nice “You can accomplish anything, with hard work and dedication” theme to it. And although it may seem like yet another sob story, there are some moments when, I suppose you could call it, a bit of comic relief (even though sometimes it may add to the tension, as comic relief sometimes does in stressful situations).
“I know when Dad does the bad thing. I know when he drinks the dole money and Mam is desperate and has to beg… but I don’t want to back away from him and run to Mam. How can I do that when I’m up with him early every morning and the whole world asleep? (Chapter 8).” Frank is talking about his dad’s drinking problem. He tries to tell the reader no matter how mad he gets at his father, he loves and respects him too much. At the same time, he realizes that the respect for his father might offend his mother. This is only because his father spends all of the families’ money, leaving them all in monetary ruin and total hunger. The situation is set up for failure, as the children are forced to choose between mother and father.
Angels Ashes is written in the present tense of Frank himself. He doesn’t offer his opinion on the events that happen, he simply reports them, allowing the reader to decide his/her own opinion. From reading the book, you can tell that Frank is an extremely nice, intelligent, and emotionally strong young boy, by the actions and the way he views his father and mother. Frank starts becoming determined in the fact that he wants to break his limitations. He wants to be successful and provide for his family. He winds up acting as a father figure for his family at age 14, when he gets his first job. Frank suffers from an overwhelming sense of guilt. He is extremely religious, and he believes that by some actions, he has doomed himself and the people he loves. However, he is able to defeat that guilt by reading, watching movies, listening to the radio, and daydreaming.
Critically speaking, I thought this book was an interesting take on the great depression. I have studied a lot of details about the Great Depression, but I have never really been able to focus on different parts of the world, I usually study New York and Chicago. It is interesting to see the recurring themes in the parts of the world. The problems they had in Ireland where exactly the same as the problems they had in America. It is an extremely educating topic, which I would suggest to most people that would like to become educated in history, as well as read an interesting autobiography.