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Frank McCourt was a little Irish Catholic boy, born in Brooklyn and lived in Ireland until he was nineteen. Angela's Ashes is the story of growing up in Ireland. His family was extremely poor. His father never had a steady job and if he worked a little, he spent most of the wages in the pubs. His mother stayed home with the children. The Irish Catholics do not believe in birth control, so they had seven children, although three died.
Since there were so many mouths to feed and Malachy, Franks father, could not keep a job, Frank starved for almost twenty years. The Irish blamed their problems on the English. I think that they were so helpless, they had to blame someone for their suffering. Although I am not saying the English were without fault, but there ways people could survive. The people were so poor and living in the most wretched conditions. They had leaky and flea infested houses.
Their clothes grew fungus and were almost always damp. The children were almost always dirty. Their shoes had holes in them and their clothes were like rags. Frank said he never had a pair of pants until he was fourteen. If Malachy was not an alcoholic, things would have been a little better for the whole family but he loved his drink and that was more a priority to him then his starving children. Even through all of this suffering, Frank dreamed of returning to America.
He worked and did what he could to return to the Land of Opportunity. He wanted a better life for himself and his family. The Irish looked to the Catholic Church for guidance in their life. They would always say that if something bad happened, it should be offered up to God, He would take care of things. They took the Church so seriously. Frank would go to Confession almost every week.
He prayed to St. Francis of Assisi constantly. When Frank was a child, he studied with his dad to become an altar boy. He practiced Latin and memorized the Mass in his head. When he went to the Church, the priest slammed the door in his face and said that they did not want him.
When he was older, the schoolmaster wanted him to transfer to a better school to broaden his education. He went to the Church and they turned him down again. When he was older, he thought about becoming involved in aiding people in India and the Church turned him down again. The Church turned him down three times and he still did not lose Faith. He was just a little boy who wanted to be a part of the Church and they did not allow it.
It is hard to believe that the Church would discriminate against the poor. I got the impression that the Church only allowed people who had money and possessions and they turned away the extremely poor people. The Limerick people accepted it and thanked God for the little that they had, there were always people worse off then they were. Life living in Limerick was very hard. There were many ways to receive help but it was not much. Angela went to the St.
Vincent de Paul Society for food, clothes, furniture, shoes and healthcare. Sometimes they would have to wait months for boots for the children. Malachy also was able to get money from the dole. He went weekly to get the money, although he hardly ever brought it home.
They lived in an extremely poor neighborhood. They ate mostly bread, tea, water and sugar. The Irish people had a lot of pride. Sometimes Angela would go to the dole with Malachy to take the money out of his hand as soon as he received it. He was very embarrassed by that but Angela was desperate for the money and she could not count on him to bring it home.
I think Malachy had a lot of misplaced pride. He loved Ireland and he fought for Ireland. When he was drunk, he would make the boys promise that they would die for Ireland. But it didnt bother him that he couldnt keep a job. He held his jobs for usually no more than three weeks and he would end up sleeping in one day and then getting fired. He was embarrassed when Angela followed him to the dole to get the money but he wasnt embarrassed that the children wore rags and they had to go to pick up coal off the side of the road for heat.
He went to England to work, he promised to send telegrams, weekly, with money. Angela had too much pride to wait outside her house, desperately for the telegram boy, but she waited inside in agony to see if Malachy had sent any money. Of course, he hardly ever did. She went on as long as she could before she started getting desperate. Once, Frank saw her begging at a priests door. They had no money for coal, so they began to tear down the walls for heat.
They were also not paying the rent. The landlord wanted to evict them. They left in the middle of the night, so no one in the neighborhood would see them, and moved into a cousins house. They did not pay rent at the cousins house, so Angela was prostituting herself to the cousin in exchange for shelter. Her mother wanted nothing to do with her Yankee children and northern born husband.
She came to the rescue many times, begrudgingly. I am astonished that her mother and Aunt Aggie, her sister, were so rude and hateful, but they did help when it was needed. Aunt Aggie was bitter because she could not have children and the grandmother was mad that her daughter had married such an irresponsible man. I thought that Angela was a good mother, under the circumstances.
There really was not much she could do because she could not work. She loved them, stood up for them and she looked after their safety. She was more concerned with Franks conjunctivitis healing than letting him work delivering coal, even though the money would have helped. It was obvious she loved all her children. She was devastated when three of them died, I dont think she ever really got over their deaths. I think she felt partly responsible.
But she loved the four boys that did survive and she wanted the best for them. I learned a lot about the Irish culture and the hardships people went through during World War II. I am amazed that Malachy drank so much and he never once tried to change so his children could have a better life. Many people drank to their sorrows or hardships, but I think Malachy took it to a different level. I learned that they were very devoted to the Church. The children were taught that anyone of a different religion would not got to Heaven.
They were taught that their religion was superior. I really enjoyed this book. It was so sad and I can not believe people lived so harshly. So many people died and lived so poorly. Frank McCourt is an excellent writer. He told the story with a lot of humor.
I dont know how the story could be humorous but it was funny at times. I definitely want to read the sequel of his life in Brooklyn. Bibliography:
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