Angela's ashes

Honors Humanities
Bowers
10 March 2011
Angela’s Ashes
    This book, written by Frank McCourt, is a memoir. It’s a story that I strongly believe should be incorporated into the high school curriculum, and if not the whole story, parts of it at least. Angela’s Ashes gives you a look on Ireland during the 1920’s during the depression.
    Most of the book guides you through Frank’s childhood, where he grows up in the slums of Limerick, sharing a shamble of a house with a constantly ranging amounts of siblings. He’s brought up by a weak but caring mother and extremely alcoholic father who is constantly drinking down the already small amount of dole money. Of course, he is raised Catholic, like all the respectable Irish folk. If I were to describe Frank in one word, I would say he was innocent. Although he did disobey the holy lord many times during his youth, he would usually confess his sins during church. Frank had no choice but to mature very fast, as it was important to provide for his poverty-stricken family while his father was away in England  still drinking down the wages.     
    This book is guaranteed to alter your perspective on life. When you see how people could survive in the worst of conditions such as these, your luxurious life might as well be compared to lounging lazily on a kings throne and bathing in gold. This book holds so many great lessons, it’s no wonder it won the Pulitzer Prize. Angela’s Ashes is proof that even in such terrible conditions, one can still be quite happy and full of humor.