Frank Mccourt´s Memoir: Angela's Ashes

An Analysis of Frank McCourt’s Memoir: Angela’s Ashes Poverty is an experience that can either make or break a person. The constant fear of never knowing when the next meal will be is soul-crushing, and the feeling of lowliness is one that can never be shaken for the rest of one’s life. Every step taken in the direction of wealth is a tremendous one, as the impoverished get so close they can almost taste the safety and comfort of money. As such, the Great Depression was indeed a time of great suffering, a terrible heartache felt around the world, yet none were hit quite so hard as the Irish. A bleak account of life in Irish poverty, Angela’s Ashes, a memoir by Frank McCourt, describes the class discrimination and extreme poverty he and

Depictions of just how gritty and uncomfortable everyday life was for McCourt are the basis for his novel; without his hardships, there would be no material for his memoir. A reader need but take a quick flip through the book, landing on any page whatsoever, and he or she will find an unpleasant taste of poverty and suffering. A striking example of this is when Frank realizes how extremely hungry his family is, and takes it upon himself to steal rations of food from the local grocer. He knows that what he doing is wrong, yet he cannot bear to see his family in pain. In addition to hunger, the filth in which Frank and his family lives is undeniably disgusting. The first night that the McCourts are in their new Limerick home, the family wakes up to discover fleas nesting in their bed, biting at their flesh: “... we saw the fleas, leaping, jumping, fastened to our flesh. We slapped at them and slapped but they hopped from body to body, hopping, biting” (McCourt 59). Fleas are the epitome of filth and haggardness; and here the McCourts are, their first night in Ireland, and already ravished by fleas. Not to mention the fact that the entire lane shares a single lavatory, where all kinds of questionable filth and foulness is dumped, causing the McCourt residence to smell of feces

McCourt says on the very first page of the book, “Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood” (1). Catholics have had a long history of being the antagonists. Who can forget the gruesome image conjured up when picturing the Inquisition? The Pear of Anguish, the Rack, the Judas Cradle: all instruments of torture used by the Catholic Church to punish all who did not agree with their antics. In recent years, the Catholic Church has come under fire for the atrocities that priests committed with young altar boys, and the unwillingness of the Pope to acknowledge these crimes. Anyone remember Sinead O’Connor ripping up the picture of the Pope on SNL? Definitely not a good impression of Catholicism. As such, Catholics have been severely hated for many centuries, and although the McCourts live around fellow Catholics, the Church and religion are not depicted well in the novel. Priests are mean, nuns are nasty, and many of the religious folk in Limerick are all around rude. Even those who claim to be the most devout and holy, treat others as scum. Angela’s mother, a God-fearing woman, is bitter and unwilling to help her daughter, classifying it as a burden to be charitable. The St. Vincent de Paul, an obviously religious organization dedicated to giving everything from boots and furniture to struggling families,