Angela's Ashes was published in 1996, achieving immediate success and critical acclaim. And yet, the book is full of uncomfortable anecdotes about grief, dysfunctional families, and utter poverty. How is it that a story such as this can make for an interesting read?

For this Application assignment, you will have a chance to develop and share your ideas about this popular book. Choose one of the following essay prompts and compose a formal essay that addresses the prompt. Your essay should have a strong thesis statement and body paragraphs that support the thesis. Make sure that you incorporate specific quotations and examples from the text to support your claims. Finally, your essay should close with a strong conclusion.

Essay Prompts

1. The Catholic Church plays a prominent role in Angela's Ashes. In what ways does the Catholic Church of McCourt's Ireland hurt its members and limit their experience? How does the church protect and nurture its followers? What is Frank's attitude toward the church? Based on your reading, do you think that Frank benefitted from or suffered at the hand of the church?
2. In Angela's Ashes, McCourt writes: "I think my father is like the Holy Trinity with three people in him, the one in the morning with the paper, the one at night with the stories and prayers, and then the one who does the bad thing and comes home with the smell of whiskey and wants us to die for Ireland." Can you see this trinity in Malachy? How can Frank write about his father without bitterness? What part does Frank's relationship with his father play in creating the person that Frank eventually becomes?
3. Women—in particular mothers—play a significant role in Angela's Ashes. In what ways do Frank's interactions reflect the roles of women within their families? Discuss the ways in which Angela struggles to keep her family together in the most desperate of circumstances. How do those experiences shape both her relationship with Frank and his development?
4. Despite the McCourts' horrid poverty, mind-numbing starvation, and devastating losses, Angela's Ashes is not a tragic memoir. In fact, it is uplifting, triumphant even. How does McCourt accomplish this?
5. Discuss Frank McCourt's experiences in school. How does his schooling, both formal and informal, shape Frank McCourt into the man he becomes? Would you be surprised to learn that he later became a teacher?

You will notice that some of the essay topics have been topics for your journals. You are welcome to use any of that material in your essay, but remember that this is a formal essay and it should not use first person. Before you begin the assignment, review the Angela's Ashes Essay Rubric to help you complete your assignment and understand how your work will be graded.

This assignment might be a work sample that you want to include in your digital portfolio.

 

Once you have completed your essay, please submit your work to the dropbox. You should also retrieve your journal entries for this topic and save the entries with a file name of mod8top3_angelasashes. Remember to submit the file to the journal dropbox.