The narrator, Frank McCourt, describeshow his parents meet in Brooklyn, New York. After his mother, Angela,becomes pregnant with Frank, she marries Malachy, the father ofher child. Angela struggles to feed her growing family of sons,while Malachy spends his wages on alcohol. Frank’s much-loved babysister, Margaret, dies and Angela falls into depression. The McCourtsdecide to return to Ireland. More troubles plague the McCourts inIreland: Angela has a miscarriage, Frank’s two younger brothersdie, and Malachy continues to drink away the family’s money.
Frank’s childhood is described as a time of great deprivation,but of good humor and adventure as well. When the first floor ofthe house floods during the winter, Angela and Malachy announcethat the family will leave the cold damp of the first floor, whichthey call “Ireland,” and move to the warm, cozy second floor, whichthey call “Italy.” Although Malachy’s alcoholism uses up all ofthe money for food, he earns Frank’s love and affection by entertaininghim with stories about Irish heroes and the people who live on theirlane.
Over the course of a few years, Angela gives birth totwo sons, Michael and Alphonsus. Alphosus is called “Alphie” forshort. As Frank grows older, the narration increasingly focuseson his exploits at school. When Frank turns ten, he is confirmed(Confirmation is a ritual that makes one an official Christian orCatholic. When Frank was growing up, people were confirmed aroundages seven to ten). Right after his confirmation, Frank falls illwith typhoid fever and must stay in the hospital for months. There,he gets his first introduction to Shakespeare. Frank finds comfortin stories of all kinds, from Shakespeare to movies to newspapers.By the time he returns to school, his gift for language is obvious.In particular, Frank’s flair for storytelling gets him noticed byhis teacher.
With the onset of World War II, many fathers in Limerickgo to England to find work and send money back to their families.Eventually, Malachy goes as well, but he fails to send money home.Frank begins to work for Mr. Hannon. This is the first in a seriesof jobs. Frank will go on to work for Mr. Timoney, Uncle Ab, thepost office, Mrs. Finucane, and Mr. McCaffrey. Frank enjoys thefeeling of responsibility he gets from working, and he dreams ofsaving enough to provide his family with food and clothes.
The McCourts get evicted from their lodgings and mustmove in with Angela’s cousin Laman. Angela begins sleeping withLaman, an arrangement that makes Frank increasingly uncomfortableand angry. He also begins to feel guilty about his own sexual feelings. Thepriests’ strict mandates against masturbation make Frank feel guiltywhen he masturbates.
- Angela's Ashes A Memoir of a Childhood By Frank McCourt This book is dedicated to my brothers, Malachy, Michael, Alphonsus. I learn from you, I admire you and I love you. A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s This is a small hymn to an exaltation of women. R'lene Dahlberg fanned the embers. Lisa Schwarzbaum read early pages and encouraged me.
- In this hard world where winning is more important than participating you would sometimes almost forget to be generous from time to time. But when I read Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt I got a completely different view on generosity and the importance of it. This memoir is about the miserable Irish Catholic childhood of the writer.
- Angela's Ashes / A Memoir of a Childhood / By Frank McCourt / This book is dedicated to my brothers, Malachy, Michael, Alphonsus. I learn from you, I admire you and I love you.
- Frank McCourt (1930–2009) was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Irish immigrant parents, grew up in Limerick, Ireland, and returned to America in 1949. For thirty years he taught in New York City high schools. His first book, Angela’s Ashes, won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. In 2006, he won the prestigious Ellis Island Family Heritage Award.
While working as a messenger boy, Frank begins a sexualrelationship with a customer, Theresa Carmody, who eventually diesof consumption, leaving Frank heartbroken. Frank saves enough moneyto get to New York. On his first night there, he attends a partyand sleeps with an American woman. Though sad to leave behind Irelandand his family, Frank has great expectations for the future.
NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. This information is shared with social media, sponsorship, analytics, and other vendors or service providers. See details.
Frank Mccourt Angela's Ashes Summary
Angela's Ashes is a grim memoir by author Frank McCourt. McCourt was born in Brooklyn in 1930 to newly-arrived Irish immigrant parents Malachy and Angela McCourt, but they returned to Limerick because of poor prospects in America. Frank's father was an angry, unemployed alcoholic, and the family lived in abject poverty, and was afflicted with frequent illness and death.
Frank Mccourt Angela's Ashes Summary
You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. You can adjust your cookie choices in those tools at any time. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites.