Angela’s Ashes: Genre 1 key example

Angela’s Ashes follows McCourt's childhood in Limerick, Ireland, in the early part of the 20th century. The author's family faced constant, grinding poverty, which contributed significantly to several of Frank’s siblings dying in infancy and Frank's own experiences with typhoid, starvation, and depression. McCourt tries to understand—first as a child, and then as a teenager—why his father cannot keep a job, why his mother and the "angels" keep providing the family with more siblings, and why he himself can’t seem to get ahead in a world that dislikes boys with “the funny manner.”

Unlike typical memoirs from the early 1900s, which might gloss over the less savory parts of a person’s life, Angela’s Ashes doesn’t shy away from detailing the darker parts of McCourt's childhood. The novel talks extensively about physical abuse, dangerously dirty and cold living conditions, and an existence eked out close to starvation. However, McCourt also uses humor and his signature straightforward language to bring readers into the many genuinely joyful moments of his “miserable childhood.” The fact that there are many happy times interspersed throughout the awfulness of his life in Limerick makes both happiness and pain feel more intense for the reader. McCourt’s other books, ‘Tis and Teacher Man, also explore his life but move away from his childhood misery in Ireland to focus more on his immigrant adulthood and teaching career. However, Angela’s Ashes remains his most famous work, and arguably the most famous Irish memoir of the 20th century.