Angela's Ashes: relationship to quote by Oscar Wilde

"Through our sunless lanes creeps Poverty with her hungry eyes, and Sin with his sodden face follows close behind her. Misery wakes us in the morning and Shame sits with us at night."

This quote is an excellent parallel to Angela's Ashes for so many reasons. The way Poverty, Sin, Misery, and Shame are personified can correlate to their roles within each member of the McCourt family. Poverty is the primary root of their misery, sin, and shame, though there are many factors at play. Shame takes the spotlight early on in the memoir when reflecting on Frank's conception and the fact that he was born out of wed-lock, something considered most disgraceful in the Irish culture where religion takes precedence. "They knew that Angela, unmarried, had no right to be in an interesting condition and they would take steps" (McCourt 15). It was also considered shameful that Angela, from the South of Ireland, was to marry a man from northern Ireland. Throughout the novel the sectional, ethnic, and religious differences are glaring and not taken lightly. A person from Ireland is not just Irish: they are northern, southern, Protestant, or Catholic and you simply don't associate with those that are not of the same classification as you. "...He was a disgusting specimen but what could you expect from the North of Ireland" (18).

Shame is a motif weaving through most aspects of the novel, especially caused by Malachy's severe drinking problem, which brings shame to the entire McCourt family. Malachy is clearly aware of his out-of-control behavior and the fact that he wastes his family's little money on the drink, and is ashamed of it, yet refuses to turn himself around. I believe that Malachy has been regarded as such a useless drunk for most of his life that he believes it and feels sorry for himself rather than taking the initiative to change his ways. "Uncle Pa says that's a disgraceful thing to do and Dad cries on his shoulder" (76).

Shame "sits with [the family] at night" as Angela and the children wait desperately for their father to return with some money, fully aware that he will not be home that night until every penny has been drained into a cup. McCourt refers to the drink as "the black stuff" to indicate how dark and damaging it has been to his life. "It's getting dark now and the coffin seems whiter than ever before in Dad's arms" (89). This quote contains an excellent comparison of innocence. Eugene's innocence, as symbolized by the whiteness of his coffin, has never been so prominent as when compared to his father. His father has made numerous mistakes and refuses to learn from them; he causes a great deal of the misery that his family is forced to suffer day in and day out.

McCourt's description of his childhood includes many dark and dreary images. "...What's the use of trying to make funny faces and letting things fall off your head when they can't see you in the dark?"(32). This theme of helplessness and misery is represented in various ways, especially the numerous references to flight and birds. "...The swings are frozen and won't even move" (29). McCourt wants to be free of his troubles but poverty and misery continually bring him down. Like they say, "you can't pull yourself up by the bootstraps when you don't have boots", and McCourt, through no fault of his own, has no boots. Sin, and shame, comes in to play when Frank steals bananas from a store to feed his hungry, crying baby brothers. "But what am I to do with the twins bawling with the hunger...?" (32). He was forced into a dilemma, having to choose between whether to disobey his mother's orders to remain at the playground with the babies or to follow directions, and in which case, steal food for the twins.

Sin is blatantly evident in Malachy's selfishness and greed as well. His family is obviously not his number one priority. "When the farm money is gone he rolls home singing and crying over Ireland and his dead children, mostly about Ireland" (95). McCourt purposely draws attention to the fact that his father puts even Ireland before his family. He cries most over Ireland, not his dead children. He seems to be more concerned with his own self-pity and unfortunate life than that of the children which he inflicted with the same life. He claims that "he'd never stoop so low as to ask a farmer for anything" (95), yet he doesn't mind allowing his own greed to interfere with the well-being of his family.

The overall atmosphere of Frank McCourt's childhood is so dreary and downtrodden that this quote seems to fit it perfectly. He has nothing really to call his own and he is aware that his parents cannot, and do not, do much to help. Angela is so caught up in her own depression that she can hardly take the time to nurture and properly care for her children and Malachy is more consumed with his own problems.

"Our lives are like skyscrapers. The smoke rises at different speeds, but they're all on fire, and we're all trapped"

I believe this quote has much impact on the understanding of Oskar as a character. His ability to think in such analytical and frank terms and put aside his emotions puts Oskar ahead of many adults in a lot of ways. Oskar does not have the clouded and childish "everything is wonderful" view of the world that most kids his age have because it has been stripped from him. The abruptness and confusion of his dad's death forced Oskar to prematurely face the reality of everyone's eventual mortality. Though morbid and depressing, this quote makes a very interesting and true connection; in reality we are all going to die, it is just a matter of when that varies from person to person.

This quote also speaks to the fact that Oskar feels hopeless in his search for understanding of his father's death and he is paralleling his desperation in this situation to the overall desperation that everyone faces due to the fact that they are "trapped" in a life that must end sooner or later. No one knows how fast their smoke is rising but everyone can be sure that it is, in fact, rising. Oskar faces a reality that most adults have difficulty accepting and from this, Oskar's intelligence and shocking maturity shine through his words. While most kids are playing with their toys and giving themselves "cootie shots" , Oskar is on a quest for his own identity and recognizes that life is finite. The death of his father clearly instilled in Oskar a sense of the perpetual passage of time: time stops for no-one and, unfortunately, we have no idea how much time we have.

I think this quote represents Oskar's awareness of the fact that, just as his father only had so much time on this earth, so does Oskar and he does not want to waste it. By befriending almost everyone he meets and searching for meaning in everything, Oskar seems to be trying to make the most out of his life. He seems to want to help those who are clearly not making the most of life because he understands that everyone only has a limited amount of time. Oskar wants to understand human emotion, as is obvious through his constant attention to the feelings of others. He is much deeper and more intuitive than any child his age, or adult for that matter, that I know of. His ability to recognize and face the facts regardless of how insightful or painful they may be really made me both admire and feel close to Oskar as I read Foer's novel. Facing one's own mortality seems to be such a taboo thing in our society and I believe the fact that Oskar so readily addresses the topic puts him heads above others in his level of thinking and comprehension.