Angela's Ashes
Journal
The memoir Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt is a tale of growing up in a state of extreme poverty in Ireland. Frank, born in America moved with his mother Angela, father Malachy, his brother Malachy(three years old), and the twins, Oliver and Eugene(still infants) to Ireland at four and a half years of age. After arriving in Ireland, the family has no money, and Malachy refuses to go on the dole (Ireland's welfare) so Angela and the children must go to the St Vincent de Paul society to ask for food dockets. They receive them, but are told that they will not receive them each week. A while later, Oliver, one of the twins gets sick and dies. Eugene, the other twin holds on for a little while, but is lost without Oliver. Despite all the attention that Malachy and Frank give him, Eugene looks for Oliver, and dies of loneliness. Soon after, the family moves out of their apartment and into a new one at Angela's request. Angela says that she may go out of her mind and end up in the lunatic asylum because she sees Eugene and Oliver morning noon and night. So, the family moves to another apartment and they have their first Christmas in Ireland. Angela and the boys go to the St Vincent de Paul society and they get a docket for a pigs head for Christmas dinner. Malachy is too proud to carry the common items home, so Frank and his brother Malachy must carry them. Frank carries the pig's head and is tormented by his fellow classmates because they can act as if they are better than Frank is, because they aren't the ones carrying the pig's head down the street. After that, Frank and Malachy must go and see what scraps of coal had been left behind on the roads, because Angela doesn't have enough coal for the fire to start. While looking for coal, the boys' Uncle, Pa Sheehan sees them and brings them into a pub where the storekeeper says that they can have all the coal that they can carry. The coal proves to be a problem as Franks drags the bag while Malachy walks behind, picking up the coal that falls out of the bag. The two finally make it home and join their mother and father for Christmas dinner. Soon after Christmas a baby is born. Angela names him Michael. Michael entitles the family to a few more shillings on the dole, but now Angela has to go to the St Vincent de Paul society for food. The men come over and declare the place a disgrace, and the boys get boots for Easter. The years pass, Frank makes his First Confession, First Communion, and goes to dance lessons, goes to school, gets a job as a paperboy, a job as a reader for a near blind man, Mr. Timoney, brings in a shilling a week (which is a great help) then, loses the job because he drops the papers, and loses the reading job because Mr. Timoney goes into a home. Another baby is born, Alphonsus Joseph, Alphie for short. Five pounds is sent for the baby from its grandfather, and Malachy goes and drinks it all in the pubs. Frank goes to Confirmation and gets sick with typhoid fever. He spends the next few months in a children's hospital, and meets a girl named Patricia Madigan. Although Frank never meets Patricia, they talk through the walls and their friendship grows through a janitor that brings them books. Sadly, Patricia dies, and shortly after Frank is allowed to go home. Malachy goes to England and sends money. Yet, he sends money only once and that is practically the last that they hear from him. He comes back one Christmas, and then leaves for England, never to return from his drinking binge. Frank gets pinkeye, and can't work, although the family needs it more than ever with Malachy gone. Angela gets sick, and the boys are sent off to their Aunt Aggie and uncle Pa Sheehan's house to stay. By and by Frank gets a job as a telegram boy and saves his money so that he can go to America, where he is told that his life will be better. Malachy is sent off to England so that he can play trumpet in a band, and Frank still saves money. By the age of nineteen, Frank is able to go to America, and he does.
Frank, through all of the tough times he went through, every time that his father was drunk, and when his father left, helped out, and in some ways that made him mature faster than the regular boys. Frank had to work for the money to support the family after his father left, and when his father was out on drinking binges, he had to take care of the other children. Frank was the child that was most like his father in attitude, but he didn't squander his wages at the pubs like his father did. He had learned a lesson from his father and his father's drinking habits that left them hungry and cold. Frank would rather save his wages and try for a better life, instead of the one that his father led. A life lived in a drunken stupor. Frank wanted to be a contradiction to the norm, and he was, by going to America, he truly was.