Angela's Ashes, By Frank Mccourt

In the memoir “Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt the characters faced many hardships in their lives. Mostly the main characters like Angela, the mother, and the children. The McCourt’s lives were products of their environment and some of their own personal choices. Some of the factors that contributed to their lives were: alcoholism, The Great Depression, and their own personal choices. In Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, alcoholism was one of the leading cause in their lives. Malachy, the father, was one of the main characters who contributed to the conditions that they were living in. Even though he was good with his children, he had a major drinking and because of that, they family was forced to live in slums. He spends all of his money in
drinking pint rather than buying food for the family. For example, when he and Frank, the author was given money for the cab but instead he went and drink making his family walk. Choices like this were the results of their lives. Although, The Great Depression happened in America “It triggered political upheavals in Europe that had devastating consequences.” People from everywhere were affected by it. With that being said it had hard for the father to get a job. Even if he was given a job he was unable to hold it for long forcing the family to starve.

Furthermore, their personal decisions shaped their lives. According to the research held at the University of Michigan, some of the causes of death were: cardiovascular and renal diseases, cancer, influenza, and pneumonia. Even though Angela and Malachy had no control over the diseases, it was their own choice of having too many kids. Because of their poor decisions, three of their children died from pneumonia.