Discussion Topic

Frank McCourt's depiction of his "exile" and its benefits in Angela's Ashes

Summary:

In Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt depicts his "exile" as both painful and beneficial. Despite the hardships and struggles of growing up in poverty, his exile ultimately fuels his determination to succeed. The challenges he faces shape his resilience and ambition, leading him to a better life and providing him with rich material for his writing career.

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What are the benefits of Frank McCourt's "exile" in Angela's Ashes?

One inescapable fact about the life of the McCourts in Ireland is that it is dominated by poverty and want. Even though Francis is doing very well by the time that he leaves and has the potential to climb up in the world by taking the post office examination, he would be living in an environment that had claimed the lives of his siblings and which he had struggled against to grow up and reach adulthood. America, by contrast, represents a blank slate and a land of opportunity. In the imagination of Francis, and so many other Irishmen like him, it summons up images of freedom, independence and wealth for the taking for those brave enough and hardworking enough to take advantage of the many opportunities that are present in the United States.

Francis, interestingly, does have second thoughts, as the following quote testifies:

Surely I should have stayed, taken the post office examination, climbed in the world. I could have brought in enough money for Michael and Alphie to go to school with proper shoes and bellies well filled. We could have moved from the lane to a street or even an avenue where houses have gardens. I should have taken that examination and Mam would never again have to empty the chamber pots of Mr. Sliney or anyone else.

However, in spite of the feeling of responsibility towards his family, at the same time Francis is eager to leave and the benefits of having a new start and having far more opportunities than he ever could have had in Ireland outweigh the disadvantages.

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In Angela's Ashes, how does Frank McCourt view his self-exile from Ireland?

Angela's Ashes  is full of memories for Frank McCourt, both positive and negative.  While the account he gives is both amusing and entertaining, we also get the sense that it was a difficult place and time to grow up in, and that not all of his memories are ones he enjoys recalling.

By the time he leaves Ireland with his brother to come to the United States, he is ready to go.  Besides just being a young man with few family ties left in his homeland, he also feels a sense of adventure, and independence, and he is confident in his ability to survive whatever might happen in his new country given what he has already survived in Ireland.

While he is obviously proud to be Irish, and is not ashamed of his family or his youth, I got the impression he had a little bitterness about his childhood too, and that he didn't mind leaving it behind for a fresh start.

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Was Frank McCourt's exile voluntary or involuntary? How did he depict Ireland in Angela's Ashes?

Inasmuch as McCourt depicts America the land of hope and opportunity in 'Tis, he describes Ireland (through his personal circumstances, mind you) as a kind of no man's land of loss and despair in Angela's Ashes. The phantoms of his past, however, follow his trail to New York, where at first he also meets with disappointment and failure before working his way to relative success.

Despite his candor, McCourt does not seem to be embittered by his traumatic childhood in Ireland and difficult early manhood in the United States but focuses rather on the fact that people can rise above their circumstances through obstinate perserverence and sheer willpower. In retrospect, though, he more realistic than he was in his youth, understanding that disillusionment is the necessary counterbalance to an overly idealized "fairy tale" interpretation of the American dream.

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