'Angela's Ashes' By Frank Mccourt

People read countless stories that have a variety of themes in them. When people read “Angela's Ashes” by Frank McCourt, and “The Street” by Ann Petry, they can probably sense that there is something similar among the two stories, and that's because they share a common theme. The theme is how people can persevere through problems that they encounter. The reader will discover this similar theme of persevering through problems by the way the authors utilizes the character of characters feelings and personality, the way setting creates a backdrop that establishes the tone of the story, and events that cause conflict to the character.

First and foremost, the authors McCourt and Petry uses the character to enhance the development of the theme

of persevering through problems they encounter by the character's personality throughout the story. A problem in "Angela's Ashes" is how will the main character get food so his family doesn't starve, and a problem in "The Street" is how the wind is causing problems for everyone that walks on the street. This quote from Angela's Ashes will illustrate how character helps develop the theme, "We can get no more credit at O'Connell's shop... Still, I'll have to try Kathleen O'Connell once more" (McCourt). The main character, Francis, has a very determined personality because even though he doesn't have credit at O'Connell's anymore, he will still try to get food from the store by any means necessary. He does end up getting food by stealing it. Francis character of determination reveals his perseverance through his problem of having no food. Not only that, but Lutie Johnson from “The Street” has the same personality trait as Francis, determination. Her determinate personality comes from her struggle with the wind. This quote will illustrate the problem Lutie faces, “The wind set the bits of paper to dancing high in the air so that a barrage of paper swirled into the faces of the people on the street... Each time she thought she had the sign in focus, the wind pushed it away from her,” (Petry). The wind is a problem for her because it is throwing dust, garbage, and other debris at her on the sidewalk, and it's pushing a sign she was trying to read. Her determination helped her get through the wind an into the hotel because she persevered through the problem she of the wind. Overall, the authors use characters to enhance the theme of persevering through problems the characters encounter.

Secondly, the authors use setting to set the tone for the theme of persevering through problems people encounter.

The setting in "Angela's Ashes" is in February, the town's weather is cold, and the people need to keep warm. "The Street" has the same setting tone as "Angela's Ashes", it has cold weather in the town, and the people keep warm. The author from the story "Angela's Ashes" expresses the setting tone by using this quote, " I put on my shoes and run quickly through the streets of Limerick to keep myself warm against the February frost. You can look in people's windows and see how cozy it is in their kitchens with fires glowing" (McCourt). This illustrates that the setting is cold in the town, and how people combat this is by keeping warm by the fire or running to create heat. The setting causes a problem for the people because the weather is cold and the people persevere through this by finding ways to keep warm. In "The Street" the same tone setting applies. This quote demonstrates the similar tone setting, " There was a cold November wind blowing... few hurried pedestrians who bent double in an effort to offer the least possible exposed surface to its violent assault" (Petry). Certainly, this quote is explaining is that the town is cold and people try to stay warm by not being in the weather. The weather imposes a problem for the people of the town, but they persevere through it by staying out of the cold by staying inside warm buildings. In other words, the

authors use setting to emphasize more struggles the people in the story face and they can overcome them to persevere. Overall, the authors use events to cause conflicts to the characters to demonstrate how that character can overcome and persevere through struggles.

Lastly, the authors use events that cause conflict to the characters throughout the stories to finish the development of the theme persevering through problems.

The events in "Angela's Ashes" reveal that the main character is struggling with the weather, his family, and hunger. "The Street" deals with struggles as well, like the horrible wind, the cold weather, and the struggle for Lutie to read a sign that was hanging off of a building. In "Angela's Ashes" the author emphasizes events using this quote, " But there's no money in the house, not even for bread in the morning... There's a cold sun coming through the window and I'm sure it must be warmer outside" (McCourt). This quote clarifies the events the main character, Francis, deals with. Francis has to get food for his family somehow with no money, he has to somehow keep warm inside his house. Those are the events Francis has to struggle with, and he somehow ends up persevering through them. "The Street" is similar to how the main character perseveres through her struggles. This quote explains how the character perseveres through struggles as well, "She shivered as the cold fingers of the wind touched the back of her neck... The wind held [the sign] still for an instant... She read it rapidly" (Petry). Lutie has to deal with the horrible wind, the cold weather, and the struggle of reading a sign that can barely hold still for a moment. She deals with these events and perseveres through them by standing still until

she can read the sign, so she can find out if the building has enough rooms for people to stay warm in.

In summary, the Authors Frank McCourt and Ann Petry utilized character to enhance the common theme of persevering through problems by using the characters personality. They also use the setting of the story to further advance the theme by setting the tone of the theme. Lastly, they finished it off by using events to illustrate conflicts the characters go through. This all ties in together to explain how the two stories themes are similar.