Angela’s Ashes

6 Pages 1454 Words

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt is a memoir of the childhood of the author himself, brought up in the 1930’s depression in poverty-stricken New York and Limerick. Right from the beginning of the novel one sees the way in which the McCourt family are faced with a lack of money due to Frank’s alcoholic father. He drinks all his earnings in the pubs and loses any job he gets, which continues throughout the novel; because of this the family are tormented by extreme poverty and desperation. The two main factors of alcoholism and poverty mean the family must deal with the deaths of three of Frank’s siblings. Despite all this suffering, the courageous family survives and with Frank achieving his goal to return to America this truly harrowing story is a display of courage: facing fears, terrible conditions and embarrassments, and survival: moving on and living through the hardships and suffering, against the apparently overwhelming odds.

The problems start in America, New York when Frank’s Alcoholic Father Malachy starts a trend of buying only alcohol with his wages and coming home drunk… “He does not bring home the wages… It’s late and Dad rolls up the stairs singing Roddy McCorley.”(24-5) The alcoholic Malachy drinks the family’s money and he continues to do this throughout the novel causing the biggest hurdle the family must face. In the beginning of the novel Angela, Frank’s mother, tries to catch her husband after work when he gets his wages:
“They’re out. Don’t know how he got past you…Mam tries all the bars around the station before she gives up. She leans against a wall and cries.”(26-7) With no success Angela is reduced to ask the grocer for some food and to pay him later. The family must continue borrowing and begging as Malachy continues to drink:
“The small crowd of people outside the door of the priest’s house… Mam…Waiting to beg for any food left over from the priest’s dinner.”(25...