The Themes Of Poverty In Frank Mccourt's Angelas Ashes

Imagine: A young boy scavenges for food to provide for his impoverished family which was composed of his ill mother and starving siblings or a homeless, single mom desperatley seeking for shelter. These synopses from "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt and "The Street" by Ann Petry share a common theme: perseverance through hardships. In "Angela's Ashes," a memoir by Frank McCourt, he stells about the harships he endured through his childhood, such as, struggling to assist his family in the midst of poverty by stealing food to provide for them. Futhermore, in "The Street," a novel by Ann Petry, tells the story of young Lutie Johnson, a homeless single mom who is seeking shelter for herself and her children. In these two excerpts, the authors use the characters, settings, and events to develop the theme, which I've identified as perseverance through hardships.

“In awhile there are voices downstairs and there is talk of tea, sherry, lemonade, buns, and isn’t that child the loveliest little fella in the world, little Alphie, foreign name but still an’ all still an’ all not a sound outta him the whole time he’s that good-natured God bless him sure he’ll live forever with the sweetness that’s in him the little dope spittin’ image of his mother his father his grandma his little brothers dead an’ gone”(182).

There are many books, written by numerous authors, containing similar themes and elements. Two such stories fitting that description are Angela’s Ashes and The Street. The former takes place in Ireland and is written by Frank McCourt; the latter is set in New York and is written by Ann Petry. The characters seem like they would not have much, if anything, in common. Frank McCourt’s main character is a child, born into a large, impoverished family; Petry’s is a single mother trying to get by. Additionally, their geographical locations and the cultures in each place vary greatly. However, their stories are similar in the fact that both characters have relating struggles. The primary theme of each of their stories is close to identical. Both

The author uses a seemingly endless cycle of poverty to emphasize the cage in which the characters are trapped. As Lizabeth muses over her childhood, she recalls the daily cycle of how “each morning our mother and father trudged wearily down the dirt road and around the bend, she to her domestic job, he to his daily unsuccessful quest for work.” (1). Every morning began the same way, passed the same way, and ended the same way. Lizabeth feels trapped, forced to go through the same series of events for what seems to be the rest of her life, with the same people, in the same place. When the author pairs this with the “dusty” setting of the town and the time placement of the Great Depression, it creates an effect of hopelessness for the first part of the story. This is only furthered by Lizabeth continually returning to the idea that “Poverty was the cage in which we were all trapped.” (1). Lizabeth opens the story by first giving a description of her hometown as “dusty”, remembering the poverty and hopelessness. She then continues by referring to the cage of not having enough money, and the cycle that it put them through, and ends by alluding to her future being limited to her poverty.

To some, being poor is embarrassing and shameful, but to a select group of people; being poor is something they’re grateful to be. They embrace it and use it to their advantage to achieve better lives

Poverty is one of the main subject matters that is present in the book of The Other Wes Moore, and its consequences are revealed through various outcomes that are being portrayed by both characters. Poverty is being characterized through the social environment that both characters live in. Both Wes Moore’s were living in an environment that had an impact not only on the way they behave, but also their psychological behaviour. “Living in the Bronx and Baltimore had given me the foolish impression that I knew what poverty looked like. At the moment, I realized I had no idea what poverty was even in rassing sense of pride tentatively bloomed in the middle of the sadness I felt at my surroundings” (Moore, 2010). Moore explains this notion of poverty when he realizes how different poverty can be depending on the country. Through this statement, the author reveals that poverty is inescapable and it exists everywhere. In comparison, Gabor Mate’s In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction book, explains the notion of poverty in a manner that demonstrates how poverty is a result of societal issues, and when problems are combined they lead to stress, anxiety as well as depression. He further establishes how every individual has a way of coping with life hardships and stressors, some choose to seek help and others try to forget about the issues in which they encounter by using drugs, and their choice frequently depends on their social hierarchy or status. “In the

Linda Tirado, author of Hand to Mouth Living in Bootstrap America, tells her story of what it’s like to be working poor in America, as well as what poverty is truly like on many levels. With a thought-provoking voice, Tirado discusses her journey from lower class, to sometimes middle class, to poor, and everything in between. Throughout the read, Tirado goes on to reveal why poor people make the decisions they do in a very powerful way.

“It is not the rich man you should properly call happy, but him who knows how to use with wisdom the blessings of the gods, to endure hard poverty, and who fears dishonor worse than death, and is not afraid to die for cherished friends or fatherland.”

Poverty hits children hardest in the world. When I was younger, the Armenians had faced the hard facts of poverty after they break up with the Soviet Union, war with Azerbaijan, and a devastating earthquake. My family moved into our motherland Armenia while our nation was going through these huge dramatic changes. Furthermore the poor economy and inflation destroyed numerous hopes and futures. In the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Arnold Spirit, describes his hardships involving poverty living on Spokane reservation. The people on the reservation are stuck in a prison of poverty. They are imprisoned there due to lack of resources and general contempt from the outside world, so they are left with little chance for success. Like Arnold, I also went through hardships regarding poverty and education.

Nelson Mandela once said, “Poverty is not natural it 's man-made.” This quote states that a person can overcome poverty if one has the desire to live a better life. In a novel called Poor People written by William T. Vollmann, the author travels around different countries and places to learn about poor people and to get a global perspective view. While interviewing different kinds of people, Vollmann would ask them one question: why are you poor? Looking at people 's answers Vollmann noticed that some of the people gave quite interesting answers. Vollmann went through a lot of situations where he just couldn 't imagine what life would be if he was ever to live like that. Another novel that has a similar poverty situation is called Let The Water Hold Me Down, written by Michael Spurgeon. Hank, the main character of the novel, experiences a tragic moment in his life. Losing his wife and daughter while drowning, this tragedy left him feeling like it’s all due to his miscarrying about them. His life becomes full of sorrow, and the only way out it was to go to Mexico to his friend’s place and restart his life over. In a new country of Mexico, this story takes place. Even though he had money, a house, and friends’ support, he still experienced lots of pressure trying to survive in Mexico. Poverty has different meanings in everyone 's lives but by reading these two novels, there are three similarities that can be made about people living in poverty.

People who think the world is perfect and life great, think about the people who do not have anything whatsoever. In several countries today, many families are dying because of poverty. In Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, Frank and his family severely suffered in Ireland because of how poor and unprivileged they were. A group of people today do not understand or care about how many people who die because they have nothing. Their house may be flooded or they may not even have a house at all. Only one grain of rice or a cup of water will satisfy them. In several places people should help countries such as people like Frank McCourt who many have poverty and decide to fight the issue that is haunting us today.

Poor people is a collection of interviews with first-hand sources of those in poverty mixed with the authors, William T. Vollmann's, inner struggle and thought-process of what poverty is. Vollmann's position on poverty is stated early on in the book "For me, poverty is not mere deprivation; for people may possess fewer things than I and be Richer; Poverty is wretchedness."(Vollmann 36). Poverty to Vollman is wretchedness meaning " a condition of extreme affliction or distress, especially as outwardly apparent" (Wretched). He continues with, "It must then be an economic state. It, therefore, remains somewhat immeasurable ... I can best conceive of poverty as a series of perceptual categories." (Vollmann 36). These perceptual categories are the five categories in the book, self-definitions, phenomena, choices, hope, and placeholders.

Although life presents you with many obstacles, if you continue to persevere, eventually you will achieve success. Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt, is a good example of this. Frank is constantly limited by his poverty. We watch him stick with his goals and eventually accomplish them in the end. He also watches his mother continually try to stretch the family budget in order to get meager amounts of food. Death is also very prevalent in this book as Frank and his family have to adjust to the death of loved ones.

Jo Goodwin Parker’s essay, “What is Poverty?” is about Parker who has personally experienced rural poverty. She explains her story from childhood to adulthood. Parker’s struggles are overwhelming; look at any sentence, the evidence of her daily struggle is there. From her underwear to living arrangements, and everything in between, Parker resides in poverty. In her essay, she says to listen to the story of what poverty is. Then she talks about the different aspects of poverty. Parker talks about the lack of health conditions she and her three children suffer from. She decides to be a mother even though she has no ability to provide

In this essay “What is Poverty?”, Jo Goodwin Parker starts of with a rhetorical question “You ask me what is poverty”, this is the opening line of the essay and it encapsulates the essay ́s purpose. Through the use of the writer ́s language she also captivates the reader with the idea of poverty and what it is by making it very concrete and real. The writer wants the reader to understand what poverty is so that they can feel like they need to help not only the writer but p!eople who struggle in that situation. !