Issues In Angela's Ashes

Angela’s Ashes portrays a kid (the author Frank McCourt) who grows up raising his own family because of the cruelty of a father. In the book, Frank McCourt writes about the way he grows up in Ireland because their family couldn’t handle America. Throughout the story Frank McCourt faces many problems that he has to overcome to get to his final destination, America. America opens people’s hearts to hope and their futures turn brighter. Frank McCourt writes this story not to receive sympathy from others because of the way he had to live, but rather to give insight to what life was like in Ireland in the 1900s. People suffered, but the ones who stuck out were the ones who continued to work hard for them and for their family to get to America, where
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
Overall, the struggle to live in Ireland allowed Frank McCourt to understand the obstacles he needed to overcome. Determination became the way that Frank McCourt would get to America. Life punched Frank McCourt in the face, but he persevered and continued his dream to live in America; the land where everybody’s dreams come true. The story ends in a simple “Tis”, which could mean an endless amount of possibilities such as how Ireland helped Frank get to the US, or to show the greatness of the US (McCourt 363). The end of the novel shocked some of the readers due to the suspense of what will happen in America. However, the suspense becomes alleviated after his sequel to Angela’s Ashes. Frank McCourt’s second novel, labeled Tis, demonstrates the life Frank lived. In the end, Angela’s Ashes exhibits the endeavor to get through tenacious times in Ireland, to end in the refinement of obtaining a home in America; where dreams become a reality. “Without a struggle, there can be no progress” (“Brainy