Angelas Ashes
Angela's Ashes
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.
As shown throughout his biography, Frank McCourt's strength and courage was used as a weapon to get him through the poverty in his life. It was very obvious in the story that Frank McCourt wanted to make something out of his life. He wasn't going to make the hardships in life ruin him forever, but more likely life's challenges would make him reach farther and work harder for a better life. Because of the lack of money in his family, Frank decided to get a series of jobs that would later give him a sense of accomplishment. One of his main goals was to just keep a roof over his families head and food on the table. His eventual dream was to save enough money to travel back to America where he soon wants to start a "perfect life." After deciding that he wanted to go back to America, Frank started to save his money so that he could indeed return. In the end of the novel, after stealing some money, but saving most of it, Franks finally get his passage to the land of the free and of...
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