Frank McCourt’s memoir, Angela’s Ashes, details his miserable childhood with honesty and humor. McCourt suffers through poverty, damaging effects of alcohol, and religious morals. Despite all the hardships he faces while growing up, he still achieves his dream of traveling to America. Thus, readers sympathize with McCourt’s message of “this too shall pass” because of his unique writing style and engaging storyline. The writing style affects the reader by creating a connection between both the author and the reader. As he tells his story, he lacks quotation marks. Though I, myself, experienced no problem identifying who said what, other readers might struggle. However, McCourt wrote Angela’s Ashes long after his childhood. Remembering exactly …show more content…
McCourt survived a terrible childhood. He struggled with rejection and taunting from his peers. He had difficulty with himself and his morals. His family barely had any money at all because of his alcoholic father and experienced deaths in his lifetime. Though most kids today would not experience the same things McCourt went through, the reader still sympathizes or empathizes with McCourt. I even felt sorry him. I pitied him; however, he did not. McCourt described his story with a tone of humor. All these people tell McCourt to die for this or that, but yet he wonders “if [there is] anyone in the world who would like [him] to live” (McCourt 69). He did not feel sorry for himself. Most of the story contains aspiration to be a working man, earn money for his family, and eventually move to America. Eventually, at the end of the book, he achieves those dreams and it touches the reader. When I finished, I felt very happy and proud of him because I knew he made it through. The reader clearly receives the message that even though the situation is tough, it will eventually pass. Angela’s Ashes gave me and surely other readers a feeling of hope. The way Frank McCourt presented his story and what the story told reaches its readers a significant message. He did it in such an engaging way that the themes the story provides gets McCourt’s purpose through. An excellent message from an excellent