Angela's Ashes Essay

Family has a large impact on one’s life because they provide support and guidance at a time when one is making important decisions. In Nino Ricci’s Lives of the Saints and Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, family plays a large role in shaping the lives of the protagonists, Vittorio Innocente and Frank McCourt respectively. Having distant fathers results in the boys’ loss of innocence and naiveté, as their fathers never have the chance to explain the mysteries of life to them. Frank’s and Vittorio’s grandparents actions result in the distrust towards their own families. The boys’ incapable mothers results in them not knowing what a family structure is, which in turn causes them to look to alternate people for parental figures. The family dysfunction

of absentee fathers, unsupportive grandparents, and inadequate mothers forms Vittorio’s and Frank’s personalities negatively as it deprives them of the positive influences they desperately need in order to grow up with the correct morals.
Frank and Vittorio’s fathers cause the boys to lose their innocence and become naive, as they grow up isolated from society and positive influences. The imperfections of the boys’ fathers have a detrimental impact on their lives. For Vittorio, his father is known to be violent and, although Vitto is barely a witness to attest to this fact, one of his only memories of his father is an abusive one. Vittorio remembers his father becoming angry with Cristina and dealing with this anger by throwing a plate at her face, which gives her a scar. Mario’s behaviour leads to Vittorio believing it to be okay to attack someone if they do not have the same opinions as himself or if he has a dispute with someone. This naiveté is a negative aspect of his personality as it could get him into trouble and it is not the right way to treat people. Vittorio demonstrates this when he attacks another boy, Vincenzio, who is saying cruel things about his mother. Even though he is defending his mother against the harsh words of Vincenzo, this is not the proper way to react. There are alternate ways of dealing with such a situation, but Vittorio does not know how to react because he was never taught by his father. Rather, he is taught to become physical instead of solving his problems calmly. Similarly, Frank’s father shows his imperfections in his drinking. Mr. McCourt frequently goes out and drinks away the families money leaving them in poverty. Most days, he comes home drunk and barely functioning. Frank notices his father’s shortcoming and comments on it, “I think my father is like the Holy Trinity with three people in him […] and then the one who does the bad thing and comes home with the smell of whisky and wants us to die for Ireland”(McCourt 210). These imperfections lead to Frank’s loss of innocence because he believes it is okay to drink to get drunk. He shows his awareness with his father’s weaknesses and downfalls. He doesn’t excuse his father, but he doesn't impose blame on him. Frank just makes an observation of what is reality and this leads one to believe he accepts his father’s shortcomings and takes his actions as normal or acceptable. Frankie demonstrates this when he drinks the sherry Mr. Harrington gives him. He does not realize the affect of the alcohol and this misjudgment almost makes him lose his job. Also, when he goes out with Pa Keating for his first pint, he drinks too much and gets intoxicated. Once again, he does realize the affect of the alcohol and consequently, mistakenly goes to the Jesuit brothers to ask for repentance while drunk. The Jesuit brothers do not appreciate him being drunk and as a result, they slam their doors in his face. These actions are a result of Frank’s father and him thinking it is okay to get drunk. Also, his father was never around to explain to him that he should have a limit on how much he can drink before he gets drunk and, therefore, he should be cautious when drinking, if he even drinks at all. Next, both men have trouble keeping their jobs. Vittorio's father loses his job because he thinks he is always right and does not work well with other people. This is seen when Cristina says to Alfredo Pannuzio, “He lost his job because he can't get along with anyone. I hear things too, even if he doesn't tell me […] the only way he knows how to talk is with the back of his hand. Now he sends me money because he's too proud to admit he was fired”(Ricci 162). This is a negative influence on Vittorio because he learns it is okay to be irresponsible and that he can solve an issue he has with someone by hitting them, even if it means losing a job or the respect of another person. Frank’s father has the problem of keeping a job as well. He is too intoxicated sometimes and does not go to work. This subsequently gets him fired. This provides a poor example for Frank because he is being taught it is okay to act irresponsibly and taking a paying job for granted is acceptable even if it means one will ultimately get fired. Lastly, their fathers are absent the majority of the time, so the boys are not provided with a consistent male role model and when they are present, their actions are not deemed worthy for a positive influence in the boys’ lives. One must be taught by example, not just words. Preach what one believes, but show it as well. While their father’s provide bad role models, their grandparents make life worse because they are unsupportive.
The boys’ grandparents viewpoints result in Vittorio and Frankie feeling distrust towards their own families.

Grandparents are meant to spoil and support their grandchildren no matter what the circumstance. They are supposed to be second parents to their grandchildren. In Vittorio’s case, his grandfather is a bad influence on him. This is because when life gets difficult, Vittorio’s grandfather isolates himself from those around him and turns to alcohol for consolation. This has a negative impact on Vittorio because it demonstrates to him that it is okay so solve your problems by drinking. There are alternate ways of dealing with problems instead of using alcohol as a coping mechanism. Similarly, Frankie’s grandmother is a bad influence as well because she is rigid and unforgiving towards the McCourts. She treats Frank very harshly when he accidentally throws up on his First Communion. It is not Frank’s fault that he throws up the host and his grandmother cannot seem to see that. Instead of being concerned for her grandchild and his well being, she rushes him off to confession. Frank feels insignificant and misunderstood because of this. Another incident is when Frank accidentally eats Bill Galvin’s meal, he narrates, “What am I going to do now? Grandma will destroy me”(McCourt 137). This demonstrates his grandmother’s unforgiving personality and how Franks feels about her. He does not trust her nor does he feel he can go to her for support. This is a negative aspect of his personality because family should be the one place one feels safe and his grandmother deprives him of that. Next, their grandparents are extremely unsupportive towards their families. Vittorio’s grandfather does not try to console his daughter and help her fix the problem her affair created. Instead, he adopts the village’s standpoint on the topic and either ignores or yells at her. The grandfather could have helped the situation, especially for Vittorio’s benefit, but he decides to ignore it.

Vittorio narrates on this standpoint after his grandfather begins speaking to his mother again. Vittorio says, “On Christmas morning, my grandfather broke a silence that had lasted more than two months"(Ricci 141). His grandfather has ignored the situation for so long Vittorio even notices. This has a negative impact on Vittorio because it makes him distrust his family. He can no longer turn to his grandfather for help because he can see his grandfather is not supportive or helpful to the situation. This makes Vittorio take matters into own hands to help his mother. He tries to make the chicken cure that the villagers believe will help rectify the situation Cristina created. This ignorance is a result of his grandfather’s behaviour. Furthermore, Frank’s grandmother is unsupportive because while she paid for two weeks rent for a house for the McCourt’s, she refuses to let them live with her even when they are clearly struggling. Frank refuses to go to his grandmother for help when he has no food or when his mother gets sick because of his grandmother’s behaviour. This has a negative impact on Frank because he learns he cannot trust those closest to him. This results in him running away. Lastly, the boys’ grandparents are very limited in their ideas of societal behaviours. They do not help their children and grandchildren despite what society thinks of them. For Vittorio, his grandfather is limited into thinking that his daughter is a sinner because of her affair. He thinks like this because this is what society teaches him. He cannot forgive his daughter because of this nor can he help her. This has a negative impact on Vittorio because he feels he cannot trust the people closest to him. He does not go to his grandfather for help when he is getting bullied in school. Similarly, Frank’s grandmother is limited by her ideas that people from the North are not good and because the McCourt children are born in America, it makes her even more prejudiced against them. Her beliefs prevent her from helping the family and once again Frank feels like he cannot trust nor ask for help from his grandmother. This has a negative impact on Frank because he feels he has to take on a parental role in the family, as he has no help from his grandmother. While being distrustful towards their own families, the boys also experience having to look to others for parental roles in their lives due to their mothers’ incompetence.