Frank Mccourt Biography

Frank McCourt The beauty of an author is his ability to not only improve his own life, but the ones around him with words and writing that encourages the reader to work for what he/she wants to achieve. Frank McCourt’s childhood of emigrating, hope-seeking, and loss helped shape his character and his writing into a novel that can help others. His ability to practically raise himself during a challenging time period in history shows his courage and willingness to achieve what others think to be impossible. Ireland’s Great Depression was a struggling hardship for all of it’s people, but this horrible era helped to strengthen a future bestselling author (Pilmaier). Although time, setting, and family were against him, Frank McCourt worked hard …show more content…
Frank McCourt’s young adult life was largely lived during the Depression Era. Unemployment was just as much plaguing Ireland as it’s spreading fevers and illnesses. McCourt personally experienced the unwaged period with his father’s helpless search for a job. The McCourt family tried unsuccessfully to receive loans from Limerick, their hometown, but were often rejected because of Malachy’s addiction. If the people of the town found that Mr. McCourt had a tendency to throw money away at the bar, they would consider him to be irresponsible and unworthy of the loans he begged for (McCourt, 42). Frank McCourt was also struck with illness in all aspects when he lost three siblings and personally contracted typhoid fever (Pilmaier). He alluded to these hardships in his first memoir when he explains that he had tried his best to put his trust in God for his brother Oliver to get better, but unfortunately Oliver still passed away (McCourt, 82). Even if there was more progression with medication and vaccinations, adolescents’ life expectancy would continue to decline as the birth rate during the early 1900’s was low. Although there were low odds against any child’s survival, Frank’s younger brother, Malachy Jr. , made it out of childhood with Frank and they wrote together when they could. After Frank retired as a teacher and began to really pour himself into writing, he also found a large interest in theater. Frank McCourt and Malachy worked side-by-side to create “A Couple Of Blaguards”, a musical theater piece. Frank enjoyed this so much that after he stopped writing, he made another piece entitled, “The Irish and How They Got Away” and became a stage performer (Larson). This part of his adult life grew in importance when his brother joined him. The childhood of loss and anguish was seen as more tolerable when Frank was with his brother. This was his best relationship