Angelas Ashes Summary Essay Research Paper SUMMARY

Angelas Ashes Summary Essay, Research Paper SUMMARY “When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive 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.” So begins the luminous memoir Angela s Ashes of author Frank McCourt. Born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank’s mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank’s father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy– exasperating, irresponsible and pleasant– does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one

thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father’s tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies. Perhaps it is story that accounts for Frank’s survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig’s head for Christmas dinner and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors–yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness. Angela’s Ashes is colored on every page with Frank McCourt’s astounding humor and compassion. It is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic. ORAL BOOK REVIEW “When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive 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.” So begins the luminous memoir Angela s Ashes of author Frank McCourt. Born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. This novel was the number one New York Times Bestseller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Also, this book is now a major motion picture. The sequel to Mr. McCourt s memoir has also been released and is entitled Tis. My father suggested that I read this book and this is mainly the reason I chose to read it. This novel was a memoir about Frank McCourt and all the hardships that he endured.

Frank’s mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children, since Frank’s father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy, exasperating, irresponsible, however somewhat pleasant, nurtures in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide, a story. Frank lives for his father’s tales of Cuchulain, a great hero who saved Ireland, and also for the tales of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies. Throughout this novel there are many things which bring the feeling of sadness to the reader s mind. First of all, there are many deaths in this novel. In the beginning there are six family members. Suddenly, a new girl is born Margaret. Margaret excites the entire family because she is the only girl with brothers Francis,

Malachy, Oliver, and Eugene. Soon Margaret is not well and dies unexpectedly. This tears at Frank s father, Malachy, who loved the little girl. Next one of the twins is sick, Oliver. Soon he is also buried and gone. Oliver was the twin of Eugene and soon the twins are together again in heaven. This three deaths all occur in the first chapter of the novel, so you can see how death plays a major role in this story. Throughout the book you will hear of how Frank s family is very poor and poverty-stricken. Frank s father Malachy does not work but when he does get work he drinks all his money in the pubs. The family remains poor throughout the novel. They wear patched shoes, rags for diapers, and drink sugar and water when they are hungry. On some nights they are lucky enough to get a