Angelas Ashes Essay -- essays research papers

Angela’s Ashes Title:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The title of this book is Angela’s Ashes. The title doesn’t make a lot of sense because the story about Angela’s cremation and her lost ashes is found in part two of the book. However, ashes do appear in the book in relation to Angela. An example of this would be the ashes from Angela’s Woodbine cigarettes. And another example would be Angela sitting next to the ashes from the fireplace during hard times. Author:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Frank McCourt was born in depression-era Brooklyn and remained there until the age of four when he left with his family to his native country, Ireland. He came face too face with many hardships but managed to make it back to New York city at age nineteen. Upon his arrival Frank worked as a high school English teacher for forty-five years. After retiring from teaching, Frank, along with his brother, Malachy, performed a two man show called â€Å"A couple of Blaguards.† Frank won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Angela’s Ashes in 1997. Major Characters:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main character of the book is Frank McCourt himself. The entire book is written in first person. He describes his life as a â€Å"miserable Irish Catholic childhood.† And he certainly has the right to. His family was forced to move out of the United States, and move to their native country, Ireland. There Frank came upon many hardships such as the loss of his twin brothers, Eugene and Oliver, and his drunken father who couldn’t get a job for very long and only making matters worse. Frank is a very smart and diligent student. His classmates however show no respect for him because he is poor. He then quits school to begin working at the young age of fourteen. And when he leaves his job at the post office to write threatening letters and deliver and manage a Protestant newspaper he is criticized. He has plenty of adventures in both jobs. He even falls in love with a seventeen year old girl, Theresa Carmody, who is dying of consumption. Frank earns p lenty of money from his work, and he has plenty of dreams about escaping poverty and returing to America and sending the rest of his family to later join him. His dream of returning to America does in fact come true, but before that Frank is very worried about how he will be punished in the afterlife and whether or not he would make it into heaven. He f... ...rank thinks that what he’s seeing is something you could only see in the movies like a beautiful scene. And he makes it sound like he’s in a movie theater. Frank’s dream of returning to New York came true. Relevance of the Work to the Present Time:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This work has a lot of relevance to today; for one thing, there is still poverty. Poverty is a hardship that millions of people must face everyday. And relating to poverty, there is still discrimination between social classes. Hunger is very prominent today. This is another problem that millions must face. Also, in relation to the book, many people have problems with alcohol. And many people still make fun of one another, and succumb to incestuous pleasure.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is however one universal affair mentioned in the book which everyone experiences. And that affair happens to be dreams. Everyone has dreams and everyone dreams of something and no one ever questions it. The power of dreaming is not just a state of mentality but rather a force within everyone that no one can control. Frankie shows the power of dreams and proves that they can come true. He returns to America doesn’t he?