Angela's Ashes

Context

Angela's Ashes: A Memoir is Frank McCourt's acclaimed memoir. It charts the author's childhood from his infant years in Brooklyn, through his impoverished adolescence in Limerick, Ireland, to his return to America at the age of nineteen. First published in 1996, McCourt's memoir won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in the category of best Biography/Autobiography, and has gone on to become a worldwide bestseller.

McCourt, who for many years taught writing in a New York public high school, waited for over forty years to write about his troubled youth. Arguably, waiting for years before writing his autobiography allowed Frank McCourt to talk about his childhood in the most objective way possible. McCourt treats the subject of his own difficult life with even-handedness and objectivity.

McCourt never downplays the fact that he suffered from acute hunger and deprivation in his youth. He once described this autobiography as "an epic of woe." Nothing about the author's boyhood was easy. But Frank's world is not one of self-pity. Although the protagonist endures a troubled upbringing, it is one that instills in him strong moral values and a healthy sense of humor. McCourt's prose style is ambitious in its scope, yet detailed in his focus; it is prosaic in order to capture everyday life, but poetic in order to evoke a homeland.

McCourt wrote a sequel to Angela's Ashes entitled 'Tis, which describes his experiences as a young man in America. A film version of Angela's Ashes was made in 1999.

Summary

The narrator, Frank McCourt, describes how his parents meet in Brooklyn, New York. After his mother, Angela becomes pregnant with Frank, she marries Malachy, the father of her child. The family grows, and Angela struggles to feed her growing family of sons while Malachy spends his wages on drink. Frank's much-loved baby sister Margaret dies, and Angela becomes depressed. The McCourts decide to return to Ireland.

In Ireland, more troubles plague the McCourts. Angela has a miscarriage, Frank's two younger brothers die, and Malachy constantly drinks away the dole money.

McCourt's childhood is characterized not only as a time of great deprivation, but as a time of good humor and adventure. When the first floor of the house floods during the winter, Angela and Malachy announce that the family will leave the cold damp of the first floor, which they call "Ireland," and move to the warm, cozy second floor, which they call "Italy." Although Malachy's alcoholism uses up all of the money for food, he earns Frank's love and affection by entertaining him with stories about great Irish heroes and the people who live in their lane.

Over the course of a few years, Angela gives birth to two sons, Michael and Alphonsus, or "Alphie" for short.

As Frank grows older, the narration increasingly focuses on his exploits at school. When Frank turns ten, he is Confirmed. Right after his Confirmation, he falls ill with typhoid fever and must stay in the hospital for months. There, he gets his first introduction to Shakespeare. Frank finds comfort in stories of all kinds, from Shakespeare to movies to newspapers. By the time Frank returns to school, his gift for language is obvious. In particular, Frank's flair for storytelling gets him noticed by his teacher.

With the onset of World War II, many fathers in Limerick go to England to find work and send money back to their families. Eventually, Malachy goes, but he fails to send money home. Frank begins to work for Mr. Hannon. This is the first in a series of jobs; Frank will go on to work for Mr. Timoney, Uncle Ab, the post office, Mrs. Finucane, and Mr. McCaffrey. Frank enjoys the feeling of adulthood he gets from working, and dreams of saving enough to provide his family with food and clothes.

The McCourts are evicted from their lodgings, and must move in with Angela's cousin, Laman. Angela begins sleeping with Laman, an arrangement which makes Frank increasingly uncomfortable and angry. He also begins to feel guilty about his own sexual feelings. Because of the priests' mandates against it, Frank feels guilty when he masturbates.

While working as a messenger boy, Frank begins a sexual relationship with a customer, Theresa Carmody, who eventually dies of consumption. Frank is devastated.

Frank saves enough money to get to New York. On his first night there, he attends a party and sleeps with an American woman. Although Frank is sad to leave Ireland and his family, he has great plans for the future.

Character List

Frank McCourt - The book's author, narrator, and protagonist. As the teller of his own life story, McCourt writes from the perspective of an adolescent looking out onto the world rather than as an adult looking back on his childhood. Frank thus retains the enthusiasm, tenderness, and determination of a young man.

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Angela McCourt - Frank's "Mam" is not overbearing or complaining, despite her hard life, but humorous and loving. As Angela deals with her husband's alcoholism, the deaths of three of her children, and the necessity of begging for handouts from aid agencies, her expectations disintegrate. However, despite the painful thwarting of her own hopes, Angela thinks not of herself and her plight, but of her children and their welfare.

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Malachy McCourt - Malachy is an alcoholic who spends his wages and dole money on drink while his children starve. However, McCourt's treatment of his father remains masterfully even-handed. Readers are shown not only the despair inflicted on the family by Malachy's drinking, but the obvious love between Malachy and his sons.

Malachy McCourt - Frank's younger brother by one year. Malachy is named after his father. Malachy is more physically attractive than the protagonist, and manages to charm his way into the hearts of cantankerous people.

Oliver and Eugene McCourt - Frank's younger twin brothers. They die within several months of one another, shortly after the McCourts arrive in Limerick. The deaths of these boys devastates Angela, who is already suffering over the loss of her baby girl Margaret.

Michael McCourt - Frank's second youngest brother, born in Limerick, whom the protagonist believes was left by an angel on the seventh step of their house.

Alphie McCourt - Frank's