Angela's Ashes Character Analysis

Angela’s Ashes

What are two funny incidents; Why are they funny and why does McCourt add to it.

Frank McCourt’s memoir Angela’s Ashes is depicted as a tragic recollection of memories focused on McCourt and his family’s horrid poverty and miserable childhood but it is in fact an uplifting account of his family’s triumphant with comical events integrated into it. Although McCourt’s family had troubling times they moreover managed to have funny and dysfunctional moments that helped keep their spirits up.

Mr. Benson is McCourts master that teaches him and the other neighborhood boys the Catechism. Mr. Benson isn’t fond of the boys when they have questions about what he will be teaching them. One boy named Brendan “Question” Quigley asks “What is the Sanctifying Grace?” ,which makes Mr. Benson fly into a rage stating that “Never mind what’s the Sanctifying Grace, Quigley. That’s none of your business.” This scene is very funny because they’re young children trying to learn the ways of the Catechism ,which summarizes the principles of Catholicism as questions and answers, but the irony to Mr. Benson’s actions is that he made an example of out Quigley

to never ask questions when the whole learning process of the Catechism is based on asking questions and receiving answers. This excerpt is also funny because Mr.Benson is teaching the boys’ how to be pure and sin free all the while consistently threatening them with flogging and more mayhem.
Mickey Molloy is a smart boy that knows how to read and is an expert on the Female body and sex-related topics.

Before McCourts First Communion, Molloy tells the story of how Cuchulain’s wife, Emer , won her role by winning a peeing contest. After Mickey finishes the story he then tells McCourt that he committed a sin by listening to a story with the word ‘piss’ in it. This is hilarious because he thinks that the priest in the confession box will “ drag me out of the confession box into the aisle and out to the street where everyone will know I listened to a story about the champion woman pisser in all of Ireland” , he thinks he’s going not make his First Communion because of Mickey telling a story that is used as a joke. Now that he’s fervently trying to rid himself of an sin, he now confess to every little

sin.
McCourts was able to keep a childlike naïve view while able to hold adult wit. We’re able to laugh at these parts in the book with adult McCourt because its funny to imagine for example his Grandmother spitting in his hair twice and saying “You don't have that hair from my side of the family. Thats’s the North of Ireland hair you got from your father. That’s the kind of hair you see on Presbyterians” or when his Grandmother had thought he threw up God in her backyard but we all know logically that’s not realistic.