Intro
If a customer walking down the aisle of a bookstore would stumble upon a
copy of the memoir Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, they would probably be
shocked to realize that the classic tale of a young boy’s increasingly depressing
childhood was in fact written by an elderly man. They might also inquire as to
how this man was able to recount his past experiences in such a naïve and
childlike manner. The plot of Angela’s Ashes details a young Frank McCourt’s
struggles and daily disappointments growing up in dispossessed and
impoverished Ireland. While most memoirs are written from the adult’s
perspective, looking back on his or her childhood and adding their own personal
commentaries throughout, McCourt uses an entirely different approach to tell his
story. Frank McCourt tells his story in Angela’s Ashes from a child’s point of view
by employing a chaotic stream of consciousness form, as well as various uses of
colloquialism in both spelling and language, while simultaneously detailing these
experiences in the present tense.
Conclusion
Because McCourt writes in the present tense, all of the action seems more
sudden. This shapes the reader’s opinion because a young Irish boy in Limerick
had to live in the present because there was no guaranteed future. Just as
Cuchullain was predestined to a short life, many Irish children were predestined
to become victims of sudden disease, famine, and war. As each of these
challenges confronts Frank, the reader is able to perceive them through Frank’s
eyes and grows through them as he does. McCourt’s tone, diction, and tense
shape the memoir into the story not just narrated, but also lived by a young Irish
boy.
Body
McCourt chooses his words based on intended connotations. When Oliver
dies, Frankie is still quite young. His inexperienced attitude towards death shows
in the word choice of this passage. He consistently refers to Oliver’s casket as a
simple “white box”, rather than calling it by its literal name. Later in the piece,
Eugene passes away. This time Frankie recognizes the casket for what it is and
refers to it as a “coffin” rather than “white box”. This sudden change and
recognition reveals that through experience, Frankie has matured in a short
amount of time. The first person point of view helps to chart this growth.
Body
McCourt utilizes diction to show how Frank begins as an immature child
and is forced to grow up because of his peers and his environment. One specific
example of how Frank’s childhood is robbed is when his first sibling dies. Right
after Oliver’s death, McCourt begins to describe what his casket looks like using
connotation. “They put Oliver in a white box that came with us in the carriage”
(McCourt 76). Next, after Eugene dies, one may notice his change in vocabulary
which symbolizes how Frank matures from one death to the next. He now states,
“That’s Eugene’s coffin” (McCourt 86) and this time refers to the word with the
[denotative meaning]. The significance of this [change in] diction is to remind the
audience that the perspective of a child will mature as the novel progresses; this
is another role that the point of view plays.
Body
Tone is one of the main tools that emphasizes Frank’s point of view
because it shows the way Frank regards certain situations. The most reoccurring
example of this is Frank’s tone toward death. His tone is very matter of fact and
nonchalant whenever he encounters death. For instance, when his brother Oliver
dies, he just says calmly that Oliver died and he moves on. This helps to show
that through Frank’s point of view, death is something common and does not
need to be expounded upon. However, when Frank changes his tone about
death, his point of view on death changes as well. When his first lover dies of
consumption, Frank feels guilty and mourns her death. He talks of death more
and expresses how it hurts him. This shows that his sad tone on death changes
his point of view from not caring much about death, to caring a lot about it.
Body
In a less active voice, Frankie’s childish point of view is manifested
through his way of dealing with death. At Eugene’s funeral, for example, Frankie
worries about how cold Eugene must be in the coffin underground. He then stops
his worrying because he knows that Eugene was taken by angels and is now in
heaven with plenty of fish and chips and toffee. These cute details lack any
acknowledgment of sorrow. Words used while speaking about a dead younger
brother such as “fish and chips” and “toffee” exemplify Frankie’s diction. His
diction conveys the innocent point of view of a child, especially in scenes of
death and devastation. While Frankie deemphasizes devastation with this diction,
he emphasizes the light-hearted moments of his childhood to create a lasting
tone of positivity.