Last Angela's Ashes Post

Chapters 16-19

The last bit of the book in my opinion was well written. Frank has his first drink at age sixteen with his uncle. His actions turn out to be interesting once he goes home. He confronts his mother of all the things shes done and esp. sleeping with Laman. I felt bad for her but I think she deserved it from all the years previous. Frank starts to question his faith after all the bad that has happened to him. He has prayed and prayed and still bad things come to him. I would probably start to think like Frank as well. The side job he has with Mrs. Finucane ends right before his nineteenth birthday. She passes on and Frank takes a total of fifty seven pounds from her which is enough in addition to his saving to get him to America. Frank announces he is leaving and his mother is saddened. Once he gets on the boat he has that home sick feeling, which I think is normal for anyone leaving home. Family is family. He ends the book with one word, Tis', which I found neat because it is simple and to the point and a good choice. The reader can assume what happens from there.

Jonathan Taylor

Week 12 Blog on Angela's Ashes

Chapters 9-11

Good for Angela, putting her foot down about not having any more kids! Too bad that abstinence, rather than birth control, seems to be the only option, though. Along similar lines, I found it interesting (and kind of sad) that Frank’s only source of “sex education” came from his friend Mikey, the self-proclaimed expert on Girls’ Bodies and Dirty Things in General. It was kind of amusing, though, that once Frank learned why he was born “early,” that he planned to use this information as leverage in case his mother ever found out about his cutting up her flapper dress! But back to the bit about sex education, and education from parents in general: I’ve been wondering, if Angela is home with the kids all the time, and usually jobless Malachy Sr. is home a lot of the time too, what do these people talk about or do?! There aren’t any toys for the kids, and hardly any other form of entertainment aside from the occasional book. And how much housework could there be if they hardly own any clothing, bedding, dishes, etc.? Seems like there would be some opportunity for the parents to actually have meaningful or educational conversations with their kids, but this doesn’t seem to happen.

And what a surprise that once Malachy Sr. goes off to England to work, he continues to drink away virtually all of his wages, forcing his starving family to seek help from the lowest of all charities. The saddest part is that he doesn’t seem to care about how much he’s hurting them. At least the kids recognize how bad his behavior is…

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Week 11 Blog on Angela's Ashes

Chapters 6-8:

It is nice to read that Frank has some better teachers now. Mr. O’Neill (“Dotty”), the master in fourth class, does not seem quite as intent on whipping his students as previous teachers, and he even exhibits a degree of humanism by the tears he subtly sheds after Brendan asks him what the use of learning about Euclid is when the Germans are bombing everything around them. A couple years later, after Frank’s illness takes him out of school for two months, he is forced to repeat the previous grade (fifth class). Luckily, his teacher Mr. O’Dea gives him a creative writing assignment, and Frank’s response is a very practical one that really gets to the heart of Ireland’s problems. The maturity of his ideas convinces Mr. O’Dea and Mr. O’Halloran (master in sixth class) to allow Frank to proceed to sixth class. Sixth class with Mr. O’Halloran is the first time in which Frank has a teacher who doesn’t call his students idiots and who actually encourages them to use their minds to make their own conclusions about life, rather than simply being forced to recite the teacher’s own opinion. How refreshing that this teacher finally recognizes that despite the students’ poverty, their minds are very valuable. There is hope yet for Frank!

Frank’s mind is stretched in another significant way in these chapters. While in the hospital, being treated for typhoid, he talks to his unseen roommate Patricia, who persuades the janitor Seamus to bring books to Frank. Reading brings Frank to life in an almost magical way! How wonderful that he had this experience (and how ridiculous that he never had such stimulation up until this point!), despite the circumstances of being sick in the hospital with a narrow-minded, overly-controlling nurse to tend to him.

In general, it seems that Frank can only enjoy in separated pockets of time small rewards, such as reading, being given the opportunity to think for himself, or even having a decent meal. Yet he has the strength to persevere and not lose his spirit…most impressive!

Week 8 Blog on Angela's Ashes

Boy, just when I was starting to think "how could life for this family get much worse?," it gets worse once they move to Ireland! They are greeted by grim relatives who are hardly willing to help them get settled, they move from one horrible apartment to the next, Malachy Sr. continues to drink away any income that is brought home, and two more kids die. And once Frank and Malachy Jr. are old enough to attend school, they are forced to endure the nastiest school masters, who seem more interested in whipping the students than in teaching them. It is amazing to me that the spirits of these surviving kids are not broken by all their hardships. Still, snippets of humor are woven among these sad, sad descriptions. I particularly enjoyed Malachy's reference to the horse dung (on the way to one of the funerals) as well as "going upstairs to Italy."

Also, I was upset when reading that Angela had ANOTHER baby. Instead of continuing to have kids that she can't properly care for, I wish she would have taken Frank and Malachy Jr. (there was a small gap of time when she had just the two kids!), left her basically good-for-nothing husband, and tried to find a job for herself, while the boys were in school. Who knows, she may even have had a better crack at finding work than her husband did, since she didn't have a drinking problem or that darned North-of-Ireland accent... I don't know which of the following is holding her back the most: the fact that women just didn't do that sort of thing at that time; the fact that Catholics don't approve of divorce; or her own weakness/ignorance. Whatever the reason, I am getting increasing annoyed by the paralysis of this family!

Week 6 Blog on Angela's Ashes

Chapter 1

 

This I found to be a better read that The Dubliners. I Liked his style how he would leave little gaps here and there along the way. Although this was a sad story, McCourt made me laugh a few times throughout it. It reminded me of The Boarding House from Joyce with the whole getting pregnant and then marrying concept. I felt bad for Frank as for he did not have a great upbringing and it amazed me that his mother had the five children within the four years she was married to his father. As being the eldest of the children he seemed to get shut out a lot by his family. His younger brother Malachy seemed to attract all the attention. It was sad to see that the baby girl Margaret did not live very long. The mother went into a depression and sort-of left Frank to care for his brothers for his father had left in a depression as well. I felt bad for him and his brothers because they had nothing. At one point he mentioned in his mind if Mrs. Leibowitz or Minnie could be his mothers and have food made for him as they did to help the boys out when their mother was depressed. I do not blame her for being depressed for I have no idea what that feeling would be like but I do believe that there is a time to gather yourself together and move on although it may be very hard. It took Angela’s cousins to come and get her back to Ireland. I wonder how things will go there after leaving New York.

 

Jonathan Taylor

Week 6 Blog on Dubliners

Interesting that in this story, the main character, Gabriel, is referred to by his first name, whereas other main characters who are grown men are referred to as “Mr. ______.” The only reasonable explanation I’ve been able to come up with is that in some traditions the angel Gabriel is regarded as one of the archangels, or angels of death, and this story being called “The Dead,” well….it just seemed to fit. Whether or not this is correct, if I’ve learned one thing from reading Joyce, it’s that everything means something! Anyway, Gabriel seems to be the odd one out in this story, annoyed by the guests (and hosts) at the Christmas party who are either foolish or rude. He would rather be outside in the refreshing cold air rather than be with the party guests at the dinner table, yet he still forces himself to make a kind toast. The Christmas gathering is a tradition that has gone on for years and years, and Gabriel feels obliged to attend each year and mask his ill feelings. He is stuck because of tradition. Later that evening (early morning!) when he and his wife arrive at the hotel to spend the rest of the night, Gabriel is unable to express his amorous feelings to her. I find this to be somewhat ridiculous and sad, because they have been married for many years—it is a shame that they are so out of practice of being romantic together. After years of putting their work, children, and the household before their marriage, a good opportunity to rekindle their love is lost. However, a little later Gabriel realizes that perhaps his wife never really loved him that much—she had been secretly storing up for years her feelings about her first love, who died young because of her, and perhaps that prevented Gretta from keeping her marriage alive. The story ends with a chilling image of snow falling faintly upon all the living and the dead…but in Dublin, the living are “dead,” unable to accomplish anything that would allow them to be happier. No one really lives life.

I enjoyed this book overall because of the very distinctive characters and because of the way Joyce really got to the heart of human weakness. No doubt we’ll all be better off if we apply lessons learned from these characters to our own lives.