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Overall, I feel that Frank McCourt’s book Angela’s Ashes was an eye-opening book. The way he is able to shed light on some of Ireland’s roughest times using dry humor, and bits of his past is astonishing. He sends you on a rollercoaster of emotion from laughing at his grandmother for her hate of the way the children were raised as Yanks, to tears when you are trying to understand the kind of pain that Angela, and the whole family, must be feel when one of her children dies. 4

I’ll admit, I found the book slow to begin, but I’m glad I never put it down. McCourt was able to express the hunger, and desperation of his own day to day life. He takes the reader through the pubs in Ireland, and while reading I felt like I was there with him, trying to drag his father home smelling of beer or whiskey, and fish and chips. It’s indescribable the way he can use words to place you in a scene. His description of each house he’d been in, the boys in school, the paths he walked, the school and teachers, and the churches - - all of this just made me feel like I was McCourt and I was the one who was living in poverty.

It was interesting, reading the book the first time, and then reviewing it again to see my notes for my project to just witness his humor, and perseverance. I loved the number of times he went to see the priest for he swore he’d damned the world for stealing milk. And the times where he would swear that he would find a job, and never have to “mooch” off of those around him, only to end up back where he started. He never viewed his past as a burden but rather the roots that made him the man he is today.

It really takes you out of your everyday life. I didn’t feel like I was in 2017 anymore, but rather the 1930s. And when I put down the book I didn’t know what to do with myself. I can’t compare what I can do - - search the web, cook a meal, turn on a light - - to what McCourt went through to get to America to become the writer he is today.

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Poverty, hunger, social class, love, and perseverance accompanied with by dry humor are running themes of Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt. I feel the main theme is the search for masculinity. Throughout Angela’s Ashes we watch Frank McCourt search for his own definition of what it means to be a man.

McCourt grew up in Ireland during WWII, when the country, and most of the world, was struggling with The Great Depression. Men who could find work went out to earned their shillings, and went home. It seemed that in the 1930s masculinity meant being tough, a ‘soldier’, keeping to yourself and get to work.

McCourt’s initial definition of what it means to be a man starts in America, when he is very young. To be a man, he needs to care for Oliver, Eugene, and Malachy; he needs to be the father figure. Men don’t cry, nor do they tell anyone but God, that they love them. The 1930s has a hard, and emotionless feeling about it.

McCourt’s definition changes slightly as he moves from America to Ireland, from home to home, and as he ages. McCourt’s definition changes slightly. He realizes that his father is a dead-beat, and that’s not who he wants to be. His definition does not include the pint, wandering the streets singing of Roddy McCorley, or wasting the dole. McCourt also witnesses Malachy refuse to be a beggar, and McCourt knows that he could never be like his father in that way. The family needs, and McCourt will do what is needed.

As McCourt grows up in Limerick, he is in contact with different men for different reasons; Uncle Pa Keating—his childless uncle, Laman Griffin—his mother’s cousin, Mr. Timoney—a kind, old neighbour, Mr Hannon—a kind, poor neighbour. They all contribute to McCourt’s definition of a man. Mr. Hannon, has a pretty big influence on McCourt.

McCourt’s first real job is working with Mr. Hannon on the coal float.  This interaction leads him to the conclusion that being a man means providing for his family so they can afford the luxuries. He decides that to be a man he too needs a job, any job, and he has to earn the money now that Malachy has walked out. When his mother tells him he needs to stop, he needs to go to school his sense of masculinity is stripped from him. He’s back to the drawing board. He feels like a child again.

Young McCourt tries to do what he thinks is right, he see's what Angela wants from Malachy, and tries to be that man. But that is not what is needed. For him to stay in school, learn, and be a child. When Mr. and Mrs. Hannon, and Mr. Timoney tell him to go to school, and to learn, he starts to define masculinity again.When Laman Griffin starts to send him to the library to get books McCourt continues to find an interest in literature.

In the end it seems as though McCourt comes to terms with his own definition of masculinity; it is education. He excels when he writes, and he loves to read. He can be the man of the family and bring in the money like any other Irishman when he is able to be around things that have to do with writing.

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“The book…hospital for a year” (McCourt 196)

This is one of the first times that Frank McCourt is learning something that isn’t being drilled into his head by his teachers, or his parents. He’s able to learn freely about the past, and about Shakespeare, and he has a want to hear, and read more. It allows for Frank’s mind to expand to places he’s never been. He is now interested in something that can give him joy. While things like bread, and jam also give him joy it’s the first thing that can give him happiness that isn’t a necessity. It is also something that, he eventually learns from Leman, everyone has access to.

Frank describes reading Shakespeare “like having jewels in my mouth”.  This description shows that Frank is actually enjoying something.  He wants to learn more, and he isn’t bored by a teacher like O’Dea. It is also now something that he has that’s “his thing”. When he was younger he had Cuchulain, and now he has his poetry, and Shakespeare. He goes on later to say that he can’t “wait for the doctors and nurses to leave…so I can learn a new verse…and find out what’s happening…”. These stories and books he’s reading are so thrilling and bring him so much excitement.

This is also a replacement for his father’s story telling. He’s in the hospital for a long period and his father cannot visit him. To me it seems like McCourt has found his first outlet of creativity that involves stories, where he doesn’t need his father anymore. This is his first step in being self sufficient now, and it also allows him to be his brothers’ story teller. When he gets home from the hospital he now has things to tell Malachy and Michael to brighten their days.

Being in the hospital for so long also allows McCourt to be a child again. He does not have to worry about his next meal, clean clothes, warmth, or the mean teachers. He gets in trouble for talking to a girl, and he is allowed to be creative, and laugh and learn about the things happening in stories, and places that seem as though they can’t be real.

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“They day of the exam…where a smart boy is wanted.” (McCourt 334)
McCourt’s whole life has been closed doors. When he tried to join the alter boys at church, or when he tried to go to a bigger, better school, people said no. When he tried to get jobs, or ask questions adults always shut him down. This was the first time that McCourt can make a decision for himself. He can either stay in Limerick for life, or do something bigger than him. He stands staring at the post office for a while because he’s probably just realized it is just him, standing outside and choosing what to do on his own; no mom, no dad, no grandma, Uncle’s, teachers, pastors, just McCourt and his own future.
He’s hit rock bottom. He knows the lowest of the low, and he knows it can probably not get any worse. He took the shot in the dark and went to be where the smart boys are wanted. While he chose on his own he was following advice of teachers, and other men who have said learn more, read, get a better education, because you will exceed. In the end in this position he earns enough money to go to America and get the education he’s been told to find.
The first time he makes his own decision something goes right, and better opportunities arise. While he doesn’t get to write much of anything in the job, and doesn’t really read that much either he is able to live out what he’s wanted for a while: being a good man. He is able to provide for the family without stealing, or begging. It also allows him to, as mentioned, go to America and live the American dream he’s always wanted; “where no one has bad teeth, people have food on their plates…” (McCourt 275).

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“She says she’s sorry…and the odd apple?” (McCourt 265)

Frank’s life had been full of family highs that crashed to extreme lows, but this was his first real taste of it happening to himself. He had the job with Mr. Hannon, and working with him made McCourt feel like he was on cloud nine. He had money for his brothers, and for his mother. He could go to the cinema, he could get food. Until his mother tells him no more, because it’s destroying his eyes.

This was the first time since Malachy had walked out that McCourt had the opportunity to replace him, but because he was so young he had no say in whether or not he could stay. It was a reality check, that as a 14-year-old boy you can’t do it all. This is the first time he realizes that the idea of getting electricity, or surpluses of food, or even moving to America, is only a dream. He is too young to do it on his own, no matter how hard he tries. He’s trying to fill someone else’s shoes, but as a young child, not only is he incapable of doing it, he shouldn’t have to.

Until the moment that Angela had told him he had to quit working with Mr. Hannon McCourt felt superior to his class mates, that he finally had something over them. He wasn’t called names, and students “gawked” at him when he rode the horse to go and get the coal. He didn’t need fancy clothes, or nice hair to be treated well for once. Although he doesn’t specify it’s one of the reasons he cries, I believe that he is upset for all of these reasons, on the inside.

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social/historical context for the novel 

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social/historical context for the novel 

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http://www.muckrosshouseresearchlibrary.ie/Ireland-1930s-1940s.php

This website outlined the politics, agriculture, family life, and social life during the 1930s, and into the 1940s for an Irishman. Ireland had just become a free state, separating itself from England. The 1930s were also the end of a Civil War that started when Ireland came up with the idea to separate from England. Fianna Fáil came to power in 1932, and remained there during the start of the second WW – “in which Ireland remained neutral”. This is why people like McCourt’s father went England “to work in their munitions factories, the pay is good, there are no jobs in Ireland”.

The population was scarce, and most people lived in the country. The church was a central power, and encouraged people to have more and more children. This is why McCourt and friends need to tear the page about birth control out of magazines, because the church saw it as wrong, and they wanted more children to work.

The amount of food in Ireland was threatened because just years before there was a famine that the country was still trying to recover from. This is why things such as tea, and bread where rationed. Meat, however, was plentiful at the time.

The way that the McCourt’s lived was usual at the time. The wife was at home the second she was married, and the man was to work. The boys all went to school until they could do what their fathers did. The girls learned from their mothers at home.

Going to the movies, and listening to the radio were the largest forms of entertainment at the time. Some saw the movies “as a bad influence”, “undermining their Christian standards of morality and decency”. Dancing was also a popular pastime for young adults. McCourt never went to a dance, but his family did try and get him into traditional Irish dancing that is still practiced today.

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Overall Angela’s Ashes is a well written memoir. The text is written the way a child would recall everything. There are no exact quotations, just a flow of memories. Some statements are followed by “she said”, but others are McCourt going on a tangent of things he can recall being said at different times, brought together all at once. I found it interesting, and a bit of a challenege at first to become accustom to this style of writing.

The reader comes to realize that this is all from memory, and not all necessarily what happened in the end. We only see what McCourt’s sees and experiences. Which leads me to wonder did Malachy really get work on farms for a period of time? Was he really only drinking tea? Or is that just how McCourt perceived the situation? Was that what he was told?

The audience is also left to wonder what happens to Malachy in the end. What is he doing when he goes to England? Is there the possibility of another family? Because a memoir is one person’s recollections of an event, we will never truly know. Memoirs are subjective, and we only get McCourt’s picture; his side of what’s happening.

McCourt’s final years also seem to come very quickly compared to when we followed him through his childhood. His teen angst and desire to grow up are sped up in the final pages. I assume this is because he had to grow up so quickly as a child, but it could also be he remembers a lot less during that time, which may leave parts of the story out again, or perhaps life remained the same, with the constant fight for survival, wondering where the next meal would come from.

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http://alcoholrehab.com/alcoholism/alcoholism-in-ireland/

http://letstalk.bell.ca/en/

https://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/pages/home.aspx

https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/pubs/guide/equalpay.php

While there was the more obvious issue of class division, there was also the issues of mental health, addiction, and women’s rights. While McCourt was growing up doors were slammed in his face often because of his class. He did his best to show up dressed up, and clean to try and receive what boys just as smart as him were getting, in terms of education, but he was always sent away because he was seen as dirty. Not just dirty because he was physically dirty, but because as Ireland started to see more money when they went to war the poor were seen as filth. This limited job opportunities for McCourt, and even his father Malachy.

Even the church at the time tells you get involved but then kicks you out. Malachy McCourt brings Frank to join the alter boys as they are always being told to pray and get involved more with the religion. It’s a priest himself who is supposed to help these people, who sends them away, and then shuns them for not going to mass or being involved. The McCourt family also stops going to mass in fear of being judged by the others there.

Women in Ireland at the time still have no control of their own bodies, and the idea of birth control is greatly shunned because the church controls most of the land. Angela McCourt herself experiences this when she says to Malachy that she’s finished having children and Malachy yells at her saying that he is the man, he’ll say when its over and she’ll surely experience “eternal damnation”.

There is also a divide between the genders, all women do “is sit at home, take care of the children, clean the house, and cook a bit.” When in reality they are the ones doing all the work. They are taking care of the children, teaching, cleaning, making meals, while the man in the house is walking to get dole money, and probably drinking, or betting with it. Today women do all of this, and many now work outside the home as well. But they still fight for equal pay, and recognition for their equal work. Ontario has the Employment Standards Act, 2000. This act “ensures women and men receive equal pay for performing substantially the same job.” However a wage gap does still exist.

The mental health issues are also a large part of this book. Malachy McCourt himself struggles with addiction, and can’t stop himself from using the family’s money to drink. He is always blamed for his problems, and people complain that he needs to do better, but in the 1930s in Ireland there are no support systems for a male, or anyone for that matter, to deal with a problem such as his. According to Alcohol Rehab “1 in 10 people in Ireland are dealing with alcoholism”. Although this stat is for the present day, it shows you that we have come pretty far, as we can actually address the situation now, instead of blaming a person.

There are more sources of support for addiction and mental health issues. Organizations like CAMH, and Bell Let’s are working hard to “break the silence around mental illness and mental health support all across Canada”.

People also viewed those with issues such as, what I understood to be seizures, as outcasts. Those that experienced “fits” were laughed at, and separated from others. Michael Molloy’s father blamed books for his problems, but no one ever thought it could be genetics, or something that could be helped as their medicines were very underdeveloped compared to ours.

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things that are happening in the world today

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things that are happening in the world today

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http://www.thejournal.ie/poverty-ireland-2-2862501-Jul2016/

http://www.our-africa.org/poverty

In Angela’s Ashes Ireland is in a time of extreme poverty. Not much has changed today. The Journal published an article in 2016 was titled “750,000 people are living in poverty in Ireland”, and explain that there are many unemployed people, and that their income is inadequate to provide for themselves.

Starvation is still running rampant, and still is a major issue for many people in the developing world. Places such as Africa have been living in poverty for decades, and won’t likely see a change for years to come. “40% of people living in sub-Saharan Africa live in absolute poverty”, which is similar to the number of people who were unemployed in Ireland in the 1930s. But there won’t likely be a war in the near future that African’s can sign up to be payed for that will allow form their country to be brought out of the slump they are stuck in.

Today, however, steps have been taken by governments to more effectively provide support for people in need. I realize it is not a perfect system, but it seems better than what the McCourt’s had to endure to survive.

There are also large charitable organizations, such as plan Canada, or doctors without borders, that work tirelessly to care for people in need.

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I’ll admit after reading Angela’s Ashes it took me a while to find a book to relate its contents to. I’d never before read about the depression, or growing up with literally nothing. But the bigger picture of the book was growth, and finding out who you are in a world that can often hold you back.

That’s why I am relating it to Divergent Series by: Veronica Roth. In Divergent Tris Prior, the main character, grows up knowing one life. She lives within the fence and thinks that’s it. Eventually she starts to question what’s real; is there more out there? Could this really be it? It takes her a long time to convince her family there’s more out there, something bigger than everyone. When people start to listen and the leave things really start to blow up, literally and figuratively. Riots begin when people realize there’s a whole other world that has been hidden from them for years. There cities and wilderness and so much more than just what I inside the fence.

While McCourt isn’t stuck in a dystopian land trying to escape he was born in America, and then ripped out of it. He begins to believe that Ireland is it. There’s nothing else, similar to Prior and the fence. Unlike Divergent, it is other people who make McCourt realize there’s more to live for than electricity, and being a postman in Ireland. For so many years his fence was the ever present poverty around him. The poverty held him back, kept him in Ireland. Until he grew up and sought out America, his new world.

When he arrives in America in his late teens; we know things “blow up” for him too. Becoming an award-winning writer was his escape, and new beginning in this wilderness.

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While reading I found it interesting how McCourt would rationalize everything he does, especially stealing. From the outside looking in, being born in the 21st century, a millennial, with money and food on the table, I often laughed at McCourt and how he would steal banana’s, bread, lemonade, jam. When he steals the bananas when he is very young, he rationalizes it to himself by saying, “But what am I to do with the twins bawling with the hunger in the pram?” (p32) Later, when his mother is home sick in bed wishing for a lemonade and there is no money in the house for food or lemonade, McCourt goes out to see what he can find.  He steals 2 lemonades, and a loaf of bread, and promises “to tell everything in confession.” (p236) Shortly after this, he steals a whole box of groceries, and thinks to himself, “I might as well take the whole box. My mother would say you might as well be hung for the sheep as a lamb.” (p238) In all these instances though he goes on thinking about how he will live when he has money, or goes to America, or leads a better life. His stealing leads to McCourt having hope. He proclaims that he will be able to pay it all back one day, even at the worst of the worst times.

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Throughout Angela’s Ashes Frank McCourt has man father figures come and go. As mentioned each one leaves an impression on him of what it means to be a man, but they also give and take a sense of stability during his youth. McCourt has the ability to take the best parts of people, and learn from their worst. Although Malachy leaves the family, and McCourt doesn’t agree with some of the things he’s done, he does learn good from Malachy. Malachy always told extravagant stories, and was told he had a “fine fist”, the ability to write. (p135) As we watch McCourt grow we watch him learn this story telling ability, so that he can replace Malachy.

At one point, at 16, McCourt gets into a yelling match with his father, and it’s likely because he feels he’s becoming the man, and that’s what he’d seen Malachy do before. But because McCourt is his own man he feels sorry. He doesn’t go out and drink a pint, he goes to a church to pray, and a priest approaches and he confesses.

McCourt watches other men with families work hard and provide for their families. Mr. Hannon works even though his legs are diseased, so that his wife and daughter can eat.  Seamus works hard to provide a life for himself and his wife, and maybe a child. Uncle Pa Keating works in the coal mine even though he was gassed in the war.  Even Uncle Pat Sheehan, who was dropped on his head when he was a baby, works. Mr. Downeses goes to England and consistently sends money home for his family. “Families up and down the lane are getting telegram money orders from their fathers in England.” (p216)

These men provide McCourt with a good work ethic and sense of responsibility, and Malachy provides a base for creative expression abilities that help McCourt thrive in thee future.

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Although I did not grow up during a depression, or on the brink of death daily searching for bread in the streets of Limerick I feel like I can relate to Frank McCourt. McCourt’s story starts with him growing up with a rough childhood, loosing family members to hunger, and a father who drinks his family’s money. While my “story”, on the other hand, is completely different. I have a stable family life, and a full meals, private school, extra curriculars, and health care.

I could go through the whole story contrasting my childhood, and my life now, to McCourt’s but that wouldn’t do much, as I’m sure many people, from similar class families to mine, wouldn’t be able to relate either.

The ways I do relate are to McCourt’s life are a search for answers. While McCourt was living in Ireland at the time he still searched for a purpose; what was he supposed to do with his life? How could he provide for his family? His brothers? Similarly, I have questions about my purpose; What am I going to do with my life? How can I do something I love and one day repay my family for everything they’ve given me?

By the end of the book even 19-year-old McCourt doesn’t know. He’s indulging in the party life, as he has just crossed the boarder to another country. The story ends at the start of a new chapter in his life, but we don’t necessarily know how he ends up writing an award-winning book, but we know he does.

Like how McCourt went from dancing, to soccer, to delivering mail, to a post boy, to working with coal, to venturing to America on a boat I have also done my fair share of flipping through ideas and activities, without finding my “perfect fit” yet.

This is where I really relate to McCourt. I am approaching this next chapter, and I have no idea where I’m going, but that’s ok because our futures are always changing and I will never really know where I end up. He didn’t have a crystal ball to see into the future, and neither do I, but I, like McCourt, can begin to make good decisions based on good advice.