Category: Angela’s Ashes

Chapter 10:

It’s that time of the year where it gets cold and wet again, so the McCourts move upstairs again. Due to the weather, Angela gets feverish and demands lemonade. Because of this demand, Frank goes out and steals two bottles of lemonade from a crate outside of South’s pub and a loaf of bread from a van parked outside O’Connell’s grocery store. Frank fabricates a story around the theft to amuse his brothers, to which Michael says that Frank is an outlaw while Malachy compares him to Robin Hood. The day after, Frank steals a full crate of food from a rich neighbourhood. But they have no fire to cook the food. So they go around the rich areas of town asking for turf or coal, but no one gives them even a bit. So they go stealing again, now from people’s backyards. A guard comes to the McCourt home to ask why the boys have been absent from school. The official tells Frank to get his grandmother and aunt, who then ask for a doctor. The doctor diagnoses Frank’s mother with pneumonia and takes her to the hospital. The boys stay with aunt Aggie. In contrast to Pa Keating, who is kind to the boys, aunt Aggie abuses the boys. Frank writes a letter to his father about how his mom is in the hospital, so Malachy returns home to look after them. But the day after Angela gets home from the hospital, Malachy leaves again. Malachy has only sent one paycheque home, so Angela goes back to the Dispensary to ask for public assistance. Their situation makes Frank sad, which soon turns into despair after seeing his mother begging for food outside a church. He’s ashamed of his mother, he can’t even look at her anymore.

Chapter 11:

Frank starts a football team with Billy Campbell and his little brother Malachy and a dress his mom bought in America inspires their name: “The Read Hearts of Limerick.”

He uses the dress, which was located in an old trunk, to make red hearts for their uniforms. While looking through the trunk, he finds his parents’ marriage papers and finds out he was born 6 months after they got married. He wonders if his birth was a miraculous one. Peter Molloy takes his son, Mikey, who just turned 16, to the pub for his first pint and they bring along Frank who gets a lemonade. Frank asks what it means that he was born 3 months early (because he doesn’t know his parents did the deed before marriage, because that’s a sin) and Mikey tells him he’s doomed to spend all of time in Limbo and also tells him how babies are made. Frank is worried about Limbo, so Mikey gives him a penny so he can light a candle and pray to save his soul. The barman says: “Everything has an opposite.” While doing a crossword puzzle. Which triggers Peter to stop drinking immediately. He tells Mikey that he’ll move their family to England and stop pestering his wife. Frank, after, doesn’t use the money to pray for his soul, but he buys toffee instead. Frank scores the winning goal achieving Frank’s team the victory against a group of rich kids. Frank now knows he’s not doomed because of his luck. Together with his neighbour, Mr. Hannon, Frank is now delivering coal. He feels like a man now and loves riding on the float next to his neighbour, who’s also a kind man. Mr. Hannon tells Frank he should keep going to school and read books so he can one day leave Ireland for America. Mr. Hannon even one day picks Frank up from school. Frank’s classmates get jealous of the manly job Frank is working, so they ask him if he can put in a good word for them at the coal yard. The coal dust makes Frank’s eyes irritated. One day it’s so bad that Angela won’t let Frank continue working, even though Mr. Hannon, who suffers from sores on his legs, can’t continue working. Mr. Hannon is hospitalized and told he can’t work again due to his legs, to which Mrs. Hannon invites Frank over, telling him that him being with Mr. Hannon gave him the feeling as if he had a son of his own. Frank only cries.

Chapter 12:

Frank’s father comes back home for Christmas, promising he’s a changed man, but he arrives a day late. The family eats a sheep’s head for Christmas dinner, but Malachy senior leaves right after the meal. While Angela is sick and is pretty much always at home, Frank now avoids the upper class boys, who he believes will make it far in life, while he and his brothers won’t. Angela and Malachy both take people home to take care of them, and also dogs, but this only brings them trouble and lice, so they stop. Frank sits outside Mrs. Purcell’s window listening to Shakespearean plays that are played from her radio. One day she invites him in because it’s cold and she gives him some food. Together they listen to more Shakespeare and other channels. One of which is an American show about jazz, which makes Frank dream of America. Owing a month of rent, they have no money anymore, so they take down a wall to use as fuel for the fire. Angela tells the boys that they’re not allowed to touch the support beam, but they do anyway which makes the roof collapse. The grandmother tells the landlord to fix the roof, but when he sees that a wall has been taken down, he evicts the family. Now they live with a cousin of Angela’s, Laman Griffin. Being a former officer in the Royal Navy, Laman is a strict man and forces the ill Angela to climb up to the loft and clean his toilet. Frank gets books for Laman and is allowed to get one for himself too. He learns that grandma died of pneumonia and tells the family. And consumption becomes the death of Uncle Tom and his wife. Malachy junior joins the Army School of Music in Dublin.

When we’re children, we rely greatly on the guidance of both our parents to make the correct decisions, however, the absence of guidance influences how a child can rationalize and develop emotionally. Approximately 35 percent of children under 18 live in a single-parent home as of 2016 according to kidscount.org. The presence of a parent figure is crucial when a child is transitioning into an adult because of the reliance and structure that is received from parents.

Behavioral disorders among fatherless or motherless children is substantially higher than children living with both parents. According to ‘What Can the Federal Government Do To Decrease Crime and Revitalize Communities?’ from the U.S. Department of Justice, children with a single parent make up 85 percent of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders. When reviewing this statistic, there’s a staggering proportion to the amount of children that have behavioral issues, which indicates that the behavior of a child is directly correlated with the absence of a parent. Of the behavioral issues, depression is one of the major issues experienced by children without a parent. Another statistic provided by kidscount.org states that more than 63% of all child suicides are from children without a parent. Medical author, Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD says that “Children who have depression or anxiety are more prone to have other biological problems, like low birth weight, suffering from a physical condition, trouble sleeping, and to having a mother younger than 18 years old at the time of their birth” which would indicate that depression influences more than just mood. Another behavior issue present would include violence and acts of aggression. When a young adult does not seek the attention that most teens require, social deviance in the form of violence may occur. The juvenile detention rate of parentless children make up 70 percent of in state-operated institutions. After reviewing the various behavioral issues that are present within, it’s apparent that this has a direct influence on the well being of a child.

Not only do children have an increased rate of behavioral issues, but there is also an education gap between families with only one parent. Due to the lowered family income, parents may not be able to financially support their child needs. In the book, Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt goes through a similar experience when his father can’t care for him, “Dad will say, one, only one, and the man will say, oh, God, yes, one, and before the night is over all the money is gone” (170, Frank McCourt). Frank McCourt, realizes that the main reason that they’re in poverty is due to his dad’s alcoholism which impacts the way he must survive each day. This adversity that Frank had forced him to take the fatherly role, and resort to coal labor to make means for his family. Another form of wealth inequality present is not being able to receive the proper education. Due to the lower salary, attending college and receiving a meaningful education would be less among families who may not be able to financially support schooling. This causes young adults to potentially become lost and over stressed, especially considering the price of college nowadays. Young adults who have spent time living in single-parent family completed nearly 1.32 fewer years of schooling than two-parent families, according to the academic journal “Education Next”. To add to this, the college completion rate also was 26 percentage points lower for 24-year-olds who lived in single-parent homes as teens. Both of these statistics show that teens/young adults may not get the start to life which restarts the wealth inequality cycle. Education is important because it has the potential to break a family out of poverty, therefore focusing on the education of a child should be a high priority in a poverty struck family.

While behavioral problems and wealth inequality are the most predominant negative influences of growing up in a single-parent family, it also impacts the general well-being of a child. When exposed to variables such as poverty, it can cause stress which may also lead to drug addiction. This escape from reality is the main reason why many turn to drugs to avoid the problems that they are faced with on a daily basis. Without both parents enforcing the rules, a teen may not value the guidance given to them at a young age. Another problem having a large role teens specifically is promiscuity and teen pregnancy. Similar to the deviance shown in drug use, a teen may also feel that the advice given to them is invalid or unmeaningful with sex. Single-parent teens are more likely to experience problems with sexual health, including a greater likelihood of having intercourse before the age of 16, according to Psychology Today. And as we know, sometimes teens don’t have the correct rationality to make decisions that could change their lives. The well-being of the child should also be accounted for because they could potentially make harmful decisions that hurt their future.

When a child does not obtain the proper guidance from their parents, its apparent that multiple problems such as education inequality, behavioral issues, and general well-being can occur. This being said, the presence of a parent figure is crucial when a child is transitioning into an adult because of the reliance and structure that is received from parents. In conclusion, the guidance provided by a guardian is crucial to a child’s well being.