Survival factors in Frank McCourt´s Angela´s Ashes

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When my mother read this book she said it was "a pile of sh They were poor but had so much love and as she says "always had something for tea, even if it was bread and butter". I listen to her stories and am so proud of my irish roots. I have listened to so many stories over the years. They were poor, very poor, but my grandfather would work anywehere often travelling with the horse and cart into Kerry or wherever to find work for a few days.

My grandmother would do laundry or anything else to put a meal on the table. My mother and her brothers and sisters tell us many happy tales of their childhood, they were loved and truly happy. This story of Frank McCourts is an exceptional one. He obviously had a father who drank all their money and ruined their lives. But why is it always raining? The stories I hear are of children and teenagers playing in the fields, pinching apples and courting in the picture houses.

Sounds idyllic to me. I think Frank McCourt tells one story of his life in Ireland, but to many it was a happy and wonderful life. I know you are looking for someone to agree with him but I have to disagree. All the Irish I know and most of them were very poor will always be so proud of their heritage!!! Green I would like to attempt an answer to Mr. Brian Kelly's dismissal of Angela's Ashes as a literary contribution.

I grew up in an American home as a member of second generation descendants of a working class Irish family. Although my father never beat his children, he and my mother's rows were notorious in our neighborhood. She was a tiny woman who barely stood five feet tall and he was a hulk of a man who stood at six feet and weighed over pounds. When my Ma couldn't ward off Da's drunken temper physically, she would always dissuade him by appealing to his undying sentiment.

The source of this sentiment was the feelings forged in the heart of every Irish son for any mother, be it his own or that of his children. My father died at the tender age of forty six. The drink killed him. His years of carousing and the long illness that followed left us in abject poverty. My mother, much like Angela, did anything to keep her three girls fed and sheltered. She was too proud to rely on government assistance or even help from her family. She worked countless hours in a yogurt factory that almost killed her.

She spoke with her three daughters nightly about the importance of an education. She taught us that an education was the only way out of the misery that had befallen her.

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I don't have enough space to chronicle the hope of their early marriage and the love that she and my father had that resulted in the fine families that my sisters and I are now raising. I will concede that the Alcoholism in Frank McCourt's novel is a stereotype that the Irish have long fought to abolish, but the claim that there are so many more "functional" families can also be dangerous.

It forces those of us who have fought that war through education and tolerance into hiding again. I reveled in the sincerity and the humor in which McCourt weaved throughout his tale. Today I teach literature in a poor inner-city school that is populated by a majority of new immigrants. The value of an education that was instilled at a very young age and my mother's strength in the face of adversity is what leds to my career decision.

McCourt's work is not classic literature as many of us would recognize , but his theme is one that transcends race, creed, sex and even "functionalism". It is the idea that the human spirit can transcend all barriers. This is a classic theme. I am sorry that you were offended by the dysfunctional that was depicted in the novel. I am grateful that an Irish son did not have to endure this. However, some of my experiences reflect an addiction that can occur when dreams are dashed and frustration sets in.

My mother also taught us that alcoholism is an illness that with support, education and tolerance can be combated. I wouldn't trade one day of my experiences for the intolerance that your letter exhibited. I found it to be a very interesting story but would hope it is not representative of Irish civilization. Frank McCourt's next book Tis showed him to be whining about all the things in life that didn't turn out as he wished they would. Again a very dysfunctional family. Wonder if there are families in Ireland that are functional embracing the nature of what a family is supposed to be.

I guess that is my bias that a family should be supportive and encouraging. Gretchen Condon I agree with Mr. I thought the book was an insult to the Irish people and Frank McCourt must have needed money very badly to get it by writing such a bunch of trash. Indeed they are hard-working, have made a great contribution to the New World and Ireland is a great place to visit. However, I do pay tribute to Frank McCourt who writes about a dysfunctional family of which he was a part. These families still exist today but I think that improved social services do their bit by providing daycare, financial help etc.

Brian Kelly has only to look at some of the novels which came out of the Depression in the United States and Canada and those awful years of the drought to realise what families faced. The first novel is about the forced emigration of the Okies to California and their suffering. Gabrielle Roy depicts the fate of a French-Candian family in the early 's.

They move in the spring after having paid no rent, the father is often out of work and the mother supports the family by doing cleaning. Remember the Thirties was a tough time for many people. I pay tribute to Frank McCourt for telling his own truth.

His story is not an essentially Irish experience and the appeal of the novel lies in that it is a universal experience for all disadvantaged children every where and something for which we must feel pity. The charm of the novel is that he tells it like it is and in no way, is judgmental of his parents. My problem with the novel is that his mother did not receive more family support. Usually, the Irish see themselves as an extended family, always willing to lend a helping hand to any relative in need. I think that there was a problem there in that this daughter had married a Protestant from the North.

The shining light in Angela's Ashes is that Frank McCourt tells it through the voice of a child who wastes no time in being bitter towards his parents.

He must have a message for all disadvantaged children. If he survived, perhaps they can too. I believe that his pupils said to him 'Write, because you have such a rich childhood' In spite of everything, he must have found love in that home. I found the book slightly amusing, only because of the sayings we heard growing up in Ireland, but for the most part it was a very poor portrayal of the Irish people Mc Court didn't need to tell those details, however true they may be May she Rest in Peace, the poor mis-fortune.

I don't know if Brian Kelly receives my views from you or not He is what a true Irishman is all about. I have the blessing of being born in N. Mayo and ; that to me is a double privilege.

Angela's Ashes

America gives its citizens and immigrants wonderful opportunities and rights. Ireland gives its people wonderful traits such as: Determination to be an asset to this world, Faith in God's Word, and Thankfulness for the gift of life. My first trip to Ireland last year, confirmed the beauty of the people and the land that I had envisioned during my life at home with my Irish-born parents. I believe that my Irish Catholic heritage prepared me for the challenges that I have faced in this world, and encourages me to smile and look forward to the rest of my days.

I have to also agree with Brian Kelly's article questioning the negative image that "Angela's Ashes" has portrayed both in book and film. Surely, like my parents and other Irish immigrants who spoke of the positive side of being Irish, Mr.

McCourt could have dwelled on the finer features. I was under the impression that the only reason for my parents' immigration was economic issues. I wish they were alive today to return to the land of their birth for at least a visit to see the changes. I pray for peace amongst all peoples of the world. Love and Blessings, Mary McHale Farmer Angela's Ashes is a beautiful and touching tale, fortunately well-laced with humor, which incidently includes an Irish town and some of its people.

It was not a travelogue trying to depict all aspects of the city or of depression-era Ireland. If Brian Kelly wishes to pretend that merry, rollicking Ireland never had any poverty and misery, then let him continue to hide behind his lace curtains and fantasize. But he is wrong in trying to fit the rest of the world with the blinders which he fancies so well. He should ask himself if he would have reacted the same way if the story had been sited in Moscow or Zimbabwe.

That the story told in 'Angela's Ashes' is believed by many to be definitively illustrative of what life in Ireland was like, is sickening. I'm constantly re-educating people who, after reading the book, think that's how my mom and dad lived as they grew up. Just one 'dysfunctional' family's story, as the opinion writer so aptly put it. The fact that he is a drinker and a dreamer at the same time proves that Malachy McCourt lives rather in his own world than in the real circumstances his family have to face. Roddy McCorley, the son of a miller, was hanged after the Irish rebellion in and buried beneath the gallows.

Kevin Barry was executed during the Tan Wars in Both are regarded as martyrs for the liberty of Ireland and were therefore immortalized in many Irish folk songs. His name at birth was Setanta but he was given the name Cuchulain in recognition for his actions. He was a warrior of his time and had the significant impact to have his name repeated years after his death. The British Isles in Cuchulains time was divided into kingdoms or tribal areas and he is presented as the champion of his people. As his acts are not recorded by historians there is doubt about the historical accuracy of his legend.

That is why he is rather part of the folklore and hearsay of the Ulster people than a figure of unquestionable history. Englisch - Literatur, Werke. Politik - Grundlagen und Allgemeines. Germanistik - Neuere Deutsche Literatur. Fordern Sie ein neues Passwort per Email an. Table of contents I. Author and background III. Other important people V. Uncle Pa Keating V. When he comes home in the middle of the night, singing songs about Kevin Barry and Roddy McCorley 1 , he wakes up his sons and makes them promise to die for Ireland. Worlds in Collision - Angela Carter's Heterotopia.

Frank McCourt - A poor but otherwise happy childhood in Limerick? Survival of the fittest. A comparative approach to conjuncts in written and spoken English. Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. Frank takes the bread home to Ab Sheehan , who accepts it without question. Frank continues reading the Lives of the Saints. He learns bizarre, sometimes explicit details about the saints—details his teachers never shared.

Saint Ursula, for example, supposedly allowed 11, people to be murdered instead of agreeing to marry a Hun. He reads books about Chinese culture that discuss the free sexuality of the Chinese. He realizes that there are alternatives to the strict repressiveness of Irish Catholicism, represented by the supposed freedom of Asia. He also becomes aware of the prejudice and small-mindedness of his peers—their fear and hatred of the Northern Irish also extends to other races as well.

Frank is about to turn fourteen.

Angela’s Ashes

Dozens of people giggle and laugh at him. During his walk to the store, Frank crosses paths with Aunt Aggie , who laughs at his ridiculous appearance. For the time being, Frank represses his sexual desires, aptly symbolized by his decision to wash his clothing, concealing the evidence of his embarrassing wet dream. Related Quotes with Explanations. Retrieved December 17,

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