Preview

Angela's Ashes Character Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1077 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Angela's Ashes Character Analysis
In Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, the symbol of Angela’s red flapper dress highlights the pain of lost dreams. This symbol is very important because it highlights Angela’s youthful dreams, the beginning of Frank’s dreams and also how Angela’s dreams end. Frank uses Angela’s red dress to make uniforms for a soccer game against the rich kids. During the game, Frank scores a goal to win the game. This goal gives him hope that he will amount to something. Using Angela’s dress for uniforms shows the sacrifice of her dreams to make new dreams for Frank. It opens his eyes to new hope and a new outlook on his dreams.
In Angela’s Ashes, the red dress represents Angela’s youth and dancing days. The dress is kept locked away in a trunk with important
…show more content…
He feels like he has something to live for. He pauses after he scores the winning goal because he feels like he has been blessed by God. He thinks to himself that he can’t be doomed if he was blessed enough to score the game winning goal. This sheds new light on Frank’s hopes and dreams. He knows now that if he works hard, gets a job and saves up money that he will be able to return back to America.
As Frank’s dreams continue to grow, his mother’s dreams fade. She has given up all hope of her dreams for herself but still wants the best for her children. She loves her children even though she never comes right out and says it but you know she loves them because she will go on the dole and do without for herself so that her kids can eat. She even does distasteful things for Laman to keep a roof over their heads and some food on the table.
Angela’s flapper dress is a strong symbol in the book. It illustrates that Angela was a young, carefree girl before she got pregnant and married Malachy. Little by little the poverty, Malachy’s drinking, problems with her relatives about Malachy, and losing her children chipped away at her hopes and dreams until there was nothing left for her but to smoke cigarettes and stare into the fire. The last of Angela’s dreams, ashes dying away in the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The symbol of clothing in the story shows the development of her freedom from the harsh rules of the Creole society. In the beginning of the novel, Edna is accustomed to wearing the same clothes as the Creoles. Throughout the…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life can be hard. A hard life though without hope can be devastating. The first 19 years of life for Frank McCourt, the author of the 364 page biography Angela's Ashes, were very difficult and full of change. Originally published in 1996, Angela's Ashes shows the reader the life of a poor Irish Catholic family through the eyes of a young boy. Frank McCourt was born in New York in the 1930's, but his family moved back to Ireland when he was an infant and most of his story is set in Limerick. The biography focuses on the many hardships that took place over the years in Limerick, Ireland including such times as the deaths of three of his younger siblings, or the times when his father would drink away all the money that he had earned just for some drinks at the pub. Throughout the biography, Frank realizes that hardships, sometimes comical, sometimes depressing, are part of life and don't ultimately weaken someone, but in Frank's case made him stronger.…

    • 1025 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this hard world where winning is more important than participating you would sometimes almost forget to be generous from time to time. But when I read Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt I got a completely different view on generosity and the importance of it. This memoir is about the miserable Irish Catholic childhood of the writer. And I think that after this essay you will see that acts of generosity can make the lives of the poor better and that those people afterwards can also help other poor people.…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Had I been a Jew living during this time period, I would have wanted to live hiding separate as to have more chance of survival, but that's me saying that now. I don't know what would have been worse, dying with your family, or dying without your family. I can understand the Frank family wanting to be together as long as possible in a time where evil was all…

    • 343 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first step is regret. While growing up, family has always been an important concept to Frank. Even though Frank is grown up, he will always be affected by his past. Before hopping on the boat, Frank had mixed emotions about leaving his family in Ireland. He thought, “Surely I should have stayed, taken the post office examination, climbed into the…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The first scene I chose starts when the doctor comes to the McCourt home to examine the baby. When he examined Margaret he said she was gone. Angela could not accept it and showed it by holding the baby, talking to her, and not wanting to give her up. Malachy Sr. was also sad and he showed it by hitting his thighs even though he was drunk. Angela became depressed after the baby’s death. Around that time Francis just learned what death was, when he saw the dead dog on the street. He did not quite understand it or feel it because he was young and innocent along with his brothers. Angela’s cousins Delia and Philomena came because the boys were not being properly taken care of. They later wrote a letter to Angela’s mother so the McCourts can go to Ireland saying that they would be better off. It seemed as if they were glad they got rid of the McCourts because they said “good riddance” when they dropped them off. This changed Francis’ young life dramatically. He has never been to Ireland and does not know how life is over there. If Margaret had not died they would have stayed in New York. They probably would still…

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before beginning Angela’s Ashes, answer the following questions in short answer format. (5 sentence minimum per answer, though you’re welcome to go into much more detail if you’d like)…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Angela’s Ashes takes place in Limerick, Ireland during the 1930s. The main character, Frank, tries to find happiness, but it becomes a challenge due to poverty that has fallen…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Angelas Ashes

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages

    All throughout literature, authors make their own themes that help sum up their novels in a meaningful message. McCourt’s novel Angela’s Ashes…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Issues In Angela's Ashes

    • 1913 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Many people die because of the lack of nutrition or lack of sanitation. Some of the deaths that Frank McCourt faces are very hard to go through, while others just pass by in an instant. Frank mourns for many deaths especially for the deaths of Margaret, Oliver, Eugene, and Theresa. These people hold a very important part in Frank’s life, therefore when they die Frank becomes very depressed. Margaret touched the entire family's heart when she came into their life. Especially since Malachy’s drinking problem in America, when Margaret came he stopped drinking and took great care of her. He watched her 24/7 and nurtured her like the best father in the world could do. However, Margaret didn’t make it, “The doctor examines the baby…raises her eyelids, feels her neck, arms, legs. He straightens up and shakes his head. She’s gone” (McCourt 36). The death of Margaret tore the family into pieces again. Margaret’s death sparked Angela’s cousins to send the McCourt back to Ireland to solve their issues. Now Malachy returned to his drinking problems and he continues to make the family suffer because of his ignorance. Frank McCourt has to see more family members pass away as his two brothers, Oliver and Eugene, die. The two die back to back and this leads the McCourt’s to more catastrophe. Now the McCourt’s have lost three of their children and can’t bear to lose anymore. Every now and then Frank would see his mother looking out…

    • 1913 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The adulterer, Hester Prynne, is obligated to wearing the letter "A" as a sign of her sinfulness. The emblem is recognized as "fine red cloth surrounded with elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread." It is important to note that Hester has dark hair and black eyes; therefore, the scarlet and gold of the emblem are focal points to her image as well as it conveys her sin. The fact that the "A" is done in gold thread further makes the scarlet letter appear extravagant and immodest. The townspeople are recognized for wearing their plain "garment of coarse gray cloth." This exemplifies that the colors of the "A," being a brilliant gold and scarlet, are in contrast to the common dress of the people. Bystanders are frequently offended because Hester seems to be proud of what should be an emblem of sin. Simply, the color of the scarlet letter portrays its ubiquitous presence throughout the novel.…

    • 640 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Angelas Ashes

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Frank McCourt in Angela's Ashes described the hard times and pain in his life, pain that no person should have had to endure. After losing his baby sister Margaret and twin brothers Eugene and Oliver, to disease and bad parenting, McCourt went through terrible times himself. Regularly subject to malnutrition and neglect, he came down with the typhoid fever, spending weeks in the hospital, and an unrecognized, persistent eye infection that came close to blinding him. In life people learn from their mistakes and sometimes, like Frank McCourt, from hard times that, while painful, can be of the greatest benefit from among their experiences. It shapes them into the people they are and brands them, leading them to be high achievers in life. Moreover, their achievements are more remarkable than those whose childhood were happy; they were marked by adversity and their drive to overcome and exceed expectations. A good life was not handed to them, but rather earned.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The pink ribbons are a symbolic figure representing faith and sin. The pink ribbons symbolize faith and sin because if you mix the color of faith which is white and the color of sin which is red it makes pink, thus it give us the pink ribbons. Also the pink ribbons are worn by Young Goodman Brown’s wife which happens to…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frank's tendency to rank her daughters diminishes by her effort to support Anne and her needs. Furthermore, when Mrs. Van Daan displeasingly classifies Anne's approach towards Peter as untraditional, Mrs. Frank disagrees with her statement by kindly claiming, "You know how young people like to feel that they have secrets. Peter's room is the only place where they can talk" (Goodrich 2.2). From this, it is clear that Mrs. Frank attempts to rationalize Anne's actions in order for Mrs. Van Daan to realize the importance of teenagers being able to express their feelings amongst themselves. Therefore, Mrs. Frank's response demonstrates that she approves of Anne's doings as long as it fills her daughter with content; nevertheless, Mrs. Frank would have thought of Anne's private discussions with Peter as irregular and immature a while ago. Similarly, when Mrs. Frank discovers Mr. Van Daan stealing a portion of the fugitives' food in the middle of the night, she bitterly cries, "I see the children getting thinner and thinner... And you come in the night and steal food that should go to them" (Goodrich 2.3). It is conspicuous that Mrs. Frank disrespects Mr. Van Daan's theft of food out of the concern that her daughters and Peter do not receive the right amount of nutrition they need for their age. This is important because it proves that regardless of the numerous ways Anne frustrates her mother, it does not cause Mrs. Frank to believe that Margot, the daughter who has a strong bond with her mother, needs the nourishment more than Anne does. Finally, the legendary writer's mother's equal protection over the youthful runaways and her approval of her daughter having secret conversations with the only young male in the Secret Annex justifies that her favoritism over one child no longer…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Wasp Factory

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages

    <br>Throughout the story, Frank's character is brought out through his experiences, of which the most important are possibly the three murders he commits. I am not going to explore how he commits these terrible crimes, but rather why.…

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays