Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt is a compelling memoir that captures the author's life in the 30s. The book starts with his early childhood in Brooklyn, New York but the majority of the memoir is primarily set in Limerick, Ireland. The memoir details the McCourts struggles with poverty, sickness, outcasting and an alcoholic father. While the topics discussed in the book are heavy and at times quite dark, McCourt uses various writing strategies to keep the reader from getting too discouraged and keep them rooting for the young boy trying to find his way through tough times. This memoir is not simply a retelling of the author's life through his adult eyes, but rather a first-hand account of the events that shaped McCourt. Through his use of language,
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Memoirs are of course always written in the first person perspective, however the tone and writing style in Angela’s Ashes sounds different than many memoirs. As the memoir is focused on the younger years of McCourt's life, the tone he uses to retell his story is almost child like. Rather than telling the story of his life from the perspective of an adult looking back on it, he tells the story as if he was a kid, living through the events. This childish tone is very effective as it helps the author gain the reader's trust, as they feel a connection or compassion for young Frankie. An example of this is on page 22, “I wish I could swing up into the sky, up into the clouds. I might be able to fly around the whole world and not hear my brothers, Oliver and Eugene cry anymore.” (22) While the purpose of that sentence is to say that his brothers crying annoyed him, rather than just bluntly saying that, McCourt …show more content…
Whether that be through tone, vivid descriptions or word choice, he makes it so the reader can easily visualize the story while reading. One of the most effective and creative ways he does this is through his use of different dialects throughout the book. Depending on the character who is speaking, McCourt changes the wording and spelling of certain words. For example, the Irish say ‘eejit’ instead of idiot, ‘tay’ instead of tea and ‘Mam’ instead of mom. The Jewish people in the story speak with a bit of a drawl, “Wait chiltren, wait, darlinks. Won’t be two seconds... Look at him little dancer awready. So, chiltren, how’s your mother?” (37) Depending on the location, race or social class of the character McCourt spells words differently so that they are written how they would sound with different accents. This style of writing is incredibly influential to how the reader experiences the book. Rather than all the characters have a flat tone as they are just words on a page, McCourt brings them to life. Language was a big deal in the story of Frank’s life. Throughout the book his father was discriminated just for opening his mouth and sounding unlike the others in Limerick. While this occurrence happens many times throughout the book, an example is on page 94 when Malachy is trying to find a job, “Bosses and foremen always show him respect and say they’re ready to hire him, but when he opens his mouth and they
Memoirs are of course always written in the first person perspective, however the tone and writing style in Angela’s Ashes sounds different than many memoirs. As the memoir is focused on the younger years of McCourt's life, the tone he uses to retell his story is almost child like. Rather than telling the story of his life from the perspective of an adult looking back on it, he tells the story as if he was a kid, living through the events. This childish tone is very effective as it helps the author gain the reader's trust, as they feel a connection or compassion for young Frankie. An example of this is on page 22, “I wish I could swing up into the sky, up into the clouds. I might be able to fly around the whole world and not hear my brothers, Oliver and Eugene cry anymore.” (22) While the purpose of that sentence is to say that his brothers crying annoyed him, rather than just bluntly saying that, McCourt …show more content…
Whether that be through tone, vivid descriptions or word choice, he makes it so the reader can easily visualize the story while reading. One of the most effective and creative ways he does this is through his use of different dialects throughout the book. Depending on the character who is speaking, McCourt changes the wording and spelling of certain words. For example, the Irish say ‘eejit’ instead of idiot, ‘tay’ instead of tea and ‘Mam’ instead of mom. The Jewish people in the story speak with a bit of a drawl, “Wait chiltren, wait, darlinks. Won’t be two seconds... Look at him little dancer awready. So, chiltren, how’s your mother?” (37) Depending on the location, race or social class of the character McCourt spells words differently so that they are written how they would sound with different accents. This style of writing is incredibly influential to how the reader experiences the book. Rather than all the characters have a flat tone as they are just words on a page, McCourt brings them to life. Language was a big deal in the story of Frank’s life. Throughout the book his father was discriminated just for opening his mouth and sounding unlike the others in Limerick. While this occurrence happens many times throughout the book, an example is on page 94 when Malachy is trying to find a job, “Bosses and foremen always show him respect and say they’re ready to hire him, but when he opens his mouth and they