Angela's Ashes Character Analysis

Frank McCourt’s memoir Angela’s Ashes follows McCourt through his life from youthfulness to maturity, from misfortune to comfort, and from family to independence. Throughout his memoir, McCourt’s experiences provide for a strong central message for his readers: although at times it may seem impossible for an individual to reach success, overcoming the obstacles and limitations imposed by society makes becoming successful an even greater accomplishment. During the course of his novel, McCourt shows how he found himself throughout his life. Even though it took a long time for Frank to come of age, this process is shown in three stages: regret, realization, and reassurance.
The first step is regret. While growing up, family has always been an important concept to Frank. Even though Frank is grown up, he will always be affected by his past. Before hopping on the boat, Frank had mixed emotions about leaving his family in Ireland. He thought, “Surely I should have stayed, taken the post office examination, climbed into the
When finally arriving to America, Frank’s attitude changes completely: “I’m on deck the dawn we sail into New York. I’m sure I’m in a film, that it will end and lights will come up in the Lyric Cinema… There are thousands of cars speeding along the roads and the sun turns everything into gold. Rich Americans in top hats white ties and tails must be going home to bed with the gorgeous women with white teeth. The rest are going to work in warm comfortable offices and no one has a care in the world” (359). This represents Frank’s hopefulness for the future. He sees the sun which reminds him of his bright future, and all the cars show the obtainable wealth in America. He describes this surreal experience as a movie, so he’s destined to have a happy ending. What happened thus far in his life is the least of his concerns. Frank truly believes in the American dream, and in his first few nights in America he’s not let