Term Paper on "Frank Mccourt's Angela's Ashes, a Critical Approach"

Term Paper 4 pages (1454 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, a Critical Approach

In Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt relates his tale of an impoverished childhood in 1930s and 1940s Limerick, Ireland. This is his most important work. He was an Irish-American author and school teacher who won the Pulitzer Prize. He died on July 19, 2009 at the age of 73, from meningitis (Grossman).

The work is a memoir. Continuing the narrative of his life, Mr. McCourt wrote 'Tis in 1999 which picks up from the end of Angela's Ashes and then focuses on the life of a new immigrant in America. Then in Teach Man (2005) he writes about his difficult experiences as a young teacher. To the author, it seems that this is an unusual focus for an author, perhaps even bordering on narcissism. However, it is a unique style that has worked for him creatively ("Frank McCourt: A Writer Risen from the Ashes.").

It is the author of this essay's premise that the author's portrayal of his father's alcoholism was due to the memoir being written in McCourt's old age. He had mellowed considerably by his 60's. He then functioned as the dutiful good son until the day of his death.

Since the author does focus on his own life (especially on his problems), why does he not blame his alcoholic father as the primary cause of his problems? After all, it was the alcoholism that caused his father's problems with employment and directly caused the family's financial issues. The Rene article focuses on this apparent discrepancy and cites economic factors outside of McCourt's father's control.

In the article, Rene specifies that the "alcoholism is not only caused by the economic hardships of the working class (here aggravated by the Depression and WWII years, but also worsened by the religious and political divides in the Irish Free State (1922-37, later Eire and as of 1949 the Republic of Ireland) (Rene 98)." Rene elaborates upon this further on in the journal article when he suggests that McCourt's portrayal

…could be denominated 'hard urbanism'. Adapting Panofski's definition, this would conceive of urban life as almost subhuman existence full of terrible hardships and devoid of all comforts-in other words, as civilized life stripped of its virtues-while beautifying the suffering it causes. This interpretation would see Angel's Ashes as a realist quest plot against a start industrial townscape rather than natural landscape, a formidable 'Dickensian enemy of adverse metropolitan living circumstances which lays out a series of tests-alcoholism, unemployment, poverty, deficient housing and hygiene, disease, death, insolidarity, lack of community tissue, economic, religious and political divides -- the protagonist has to over-come in order to achieve his object of desire. Rather than obviating actual socio-economic conditions, Angela's Ashes' urban realism highlights them to test and toughen up the young hero on his road to manhood/a new home/a better life. It is logically, the Old Mother Ireland Frankie has to write off-hence the title -- and the Promised Land of America he has to inscribe himself so as to develop as an Irish (A)m (eric)an and take his place in a society that allows him to overcome the troubles encountered back in Ireland. Angela's Ashes and the Quiet Man have sold so well to the American audience -- a nation of immigrants-because both migrant stories conjoin nostalgia and humour in a marked capacity for survival (Rene 103)

For Rene, it is not the alcoholism. Rather, it hearkens back to that pat old sociological argument that "society" did not it, not any one physical actor. The father, rightly or wrongly, is as much a victim as his son. It is almost as if McCourt is falling back upon old stereotypes about hard drinking Irish ethnicity to excuse his father's failings. While this is understandable for the dutiful son, the reader may not find it excusable for an author. After all, since the buyer shelled out money for a book, should the portrayal not be a bit more objective?

While McCourt waxed in sympathy about his father not being personally responsible, he did later acknowledge at the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival in Dowagiac, Michigan, "The central event in my life is my father's alcoholism (Matiko 1)." Therefore, it seems as though McCourt later on saw that it was actually the alcoholism, although it was not necessarily his father's fault. Again, it is understandable that the dutiful son… READ MORE

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