Angela's Ashes With Comparison to Pip

A detailed Summary of Angela's Ashes With Comparison to Pip

Frank McCourt, the narrator of Angela's Ashes, seems to be a very strange fellow. He spends much of his day dreaming about what it would be like to be rich and have a father who does not drink the dole money away every week. He plays with his little brothers and makes them laugh when they are too hungry to play anymore. Frank even steals food from the stores and people's doorsteps to make sure that his family has enough food for the night. In reality, he has taken over the job of "man of the house" from his drunken father. "They scream at me and tell me I'm filthy. I try to explain to them that Mam has the disease and that I'm worn out trying to make ends meet, keeping the home fires burning, getting lemonade for Mam and bread for my brothers. There's no use telling them about the marmalade for they'll only scream again."

Malachy McCourt, Frank's father, comes from the North of Ireland. Malachy claims he was in the Irish Republican Army and is forever bragging about how he "did his part" for Ireland. Because he is from the "Protestant" North, he is viewed with distrust by the Catholic citizens of Limerick Because of his accent, It is hard for him to get a job. He also suffers from the "Irish Problem"--

He quits his job at the post office and gets a job delivering papers to large stores. He still has the job writing threatening letters to people in the neighborhood until his employer dies. Frank goes upstairs and opens her trunk. He finds one hundred pounds. After a battle of conscience, he takes forty of the hundred and he has enough to return to America.

Frank starts school and prepares for his first communion. He studies hard and knows all of the popes by name. Then comes the day of his first communion and the blessed "collection," a tradition in Ireland of first communion where the children go door-to-door in their first communion suits and ask for money. They then go and spend it all on sweets and movies. Frank gets sick after the communion and is unable to go for his collection.

Angela McCourt, Frank's mother, is a good Catholic woman. In many ways she is the most admirable character in the book. Poorly educated and having few work skills, she holds her family together despite her alcoholic husband. She wishes she never married Malachy McCourt. She swallows her pride and accepts charity. She suffers the loss of her three children. It is interesting that Angela stuck with her family the whole way through, even in the midst of all of these problems. She is a very honest person and is described by the Italian neighbor in Boston, "Anything you like, missus, because I know you are an honest woman and you've got a bunch o' nice kids there." (Pg 28)

The story starts out in depression era Boston. The McCourt family is poor and Malachy McCourt is jobless. Angela gives birth to a baby girl and names her Margaret after her mother. Malachy is so happy about the baby that he goes out and gets a job at a factory and is able to support his family. Soon, though, Margaret dies of an unknown disease and things ar

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Approximate Word count = 1240
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels