Therese

=w Therese's Reading Log (Connector, Researcher, Discussion Director, Passage Master)=

May 16, 2008 Summary: In the first chapter, the readers are introduced to the lifestyle and the family of Frankie. He introduces his small brothers and his relationship with them. He also tells of his mother's background and how she came to know his father. The story is told in his point of view as a small boy witnessing the effects of poverty around him and his father's abuse of alcohol. It is difficult to understand at first because the writing a little choppy, but the reader has to remember that it represents the thoughts of a very small child.

Connector: While reading //Angela's Ashes,// it reminded me very much of a story I read last year with my English Class called, The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. In this story, both characters describe the effects and the hardships growing up as an Irish Catholic, all the while trying to survive in a poor family, due to an alcoholic father, in America. Both stories have many correlations to one another and they both take place during the Great Depression in America. Another correlation I made to the story was in relation to my grandfather's family. They moved from Canada to the United States when my grandfather was around the same age as the little boy in the book, around six years old. Once in America, his family was very poor and he has 12 other brothers and sisters which his alcoholic father could not support. The family lived in a small tenement on the outskirts of Boston and the elder brothers had to work in order to provide for the family. It was not long after they moved to the US that my great-grandfather left his wife and 13 children. A few years later, my great grandmother recieved that her husband had died in Canada, and without a second thought, she drove all the way back up to Canada in a pick-up truck with all of her 13 children and buried her neglectful husband.My grandmother, similar to the mother in the story, had a very strong will, and raised her children the best she could. They all became successful and my grand father was the first child to go to college. He started his own conveniece store called "Desilets' Market" which my uncle owns now.

May 20, 2008 Summary: The next two chapters are once again about misery and strife within the family and their constant strains of poverty. Their two younger brother die and the family is left in desolation. They leave America in hopes that the father will overcome his problem of drinking and they move back to Ireland but they are left living in a smaller apartment and strcken with more pverty than before. Frankie speaks of the woes that his mother suffers in her relationship with the father. She constantly worries about his work and the fact that he can never keep a job for more than week because right after his first pay check he goes to the pub and spends all the money, leaving his children hungry.

Researcher: I have done some background research on the story, in order to give some insight on //Angela's Ashes.// The story takes place in New York, during the Great Depression and Ireland, where the family of the main character is from. Ireland is the third largest island in Europe. The population is slightly ovder six million people. The name is derived from //Eriu,// which means land. Overall, Ireland has a steady, oceanic temperature. During the Great Depression, which also affected the Irish economy, led many Americans who had irish roots to reverse the direction of their immigration to seek shelter in the motherland: Ireland. Under the impact of the depression, the immigration fell overseas and was replaced with a movement homeward. Ireland was not affected as badly as the rest of the world, because they were not as involved with World War I. The author of the story, Frank McCourt, is a memoir, in which he writes of his immigration from Ireland to America and the hardships they endured during the Great Depression as an Irish Catholic family in New York. Frank McCourt was born in Brooklyn in 1930 of Irish parents. The loss of jobs in New York City and McCourt’s father’s excessive drinking drove the family to Ireland when McCourt was four years old. The family settled in Limerick to be near the mother’s family in hope that family and community support would help them battle the economic storm. Controversial is the description in //Angela’s Ashes// of an unfeeling family and cold hearted community which drove the McCourts more deeply into poverty. McCourt’s description of his family’s plight in Limerick makes a reader think of Ireland not as Mother Ireland, protecting and nurturing her children, but as “Mommy, Dearest” Ireland, rejecting and denying her children.

May 21, 2008 Summary: Chapter IV is primarily about Frankie's catechism class and the preparation he is taking before making his first communion. In the mind of a small child, he makes a point of explaining to the reader the difficulties of being a catholic during the 1900's primarily because there were many downfalls within the church during that time and discrepancies about catholicism. Also, the priest whom he describes clearly does not uphold the faith in the best way. (He is depicted as a rude and brash priest.) In Chapter V, Frankie gets a little job

Discussion Director: Frankie's mother's family is very against his father being from Northern Ireland. Do you think this is merely because he is an alcoholic or for other reasons?

On page 135, it says, "Grandma sleeps...witha a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus over her heard and a statue...on the mantelpiece. Also, Frankie's father has a picture of the Pope, which he covets. However, from the way Frankie describes his family, they don't seem to be very good Catholics. Rather, It seems as though Frankie's family is Catholic by necessity or obligation. Would you agree with this statement? why or why not?

May 22, 2008 Summary: In chapter VI and VII, I felt like not much else has happened in the book besides the usual problems that the family is faced with concering poverty. The author does skip a few years to when Frankie is ten years old and he focuses on his schooling. He mentions a few of his teachers and some classmates who bother him. He also talks about his friend Paddy who tend to get into some mischief.

Passage Master: "...while he eats his sandwich bits and drinks his milk and Paddy and I look at him and I know Paddy is wondering what we're doing here at all...hoping Fintan will pass over the plate to us but he doesn't, he finishes the milk, leaves bits of sandwich on the plate, covers it with a cloth and wipes his lips in his dainty way, lowers his head and blesses himself and says grace after meals...(page 160)

I thought this was a good quote to look back and reflect upon because by reading this statement, it is interesting to recognize that although Fintan claims to be such a great Catholic and everyone thinks that he is perfect, by not sharing his food with his friends, he clearly excerises being uncharitable..on purpose. I thought this was a bit ironic and an important passage to remember. Clearly, being Catholic in those times was important in name only.

May 23, 2008 Summary: In Chapter VIII, Frankie is ready to make his confirmation and is very excited because of the rewards (money) he will get from the neighbors. However, he is never able to collect it because he is put in the hospital for typhoid and stays there several weeks. He enjoys the hospital because he is well fed and he sleeps in clean sheets. He also meets a little girl named Patricia, whom he becomes friends with. Meanwhile, his family is struggling but Frankie thinks that his dad is finally keeping a job because his mother brings him a candy bar, but little does he know that this is not the case at all.

Connector: I enjoyed reading this chapter because it reminded me when I made my Confirmation and at the time I have to admit that I was more excited about the presents that I would get than actually getting confirmed. Now that I am more mature though I realize the importance of the sacrament and I think Frankie will realize it's importance as well, when he is older.

ktblash : Me too! I had planned on using all my $$ on soccer cleats and was so excited b/c I thought that was the end of CCD forever. It took awhile for me to realize the value of the sacrament and learn that it really is just the beginning of your spiritual education not the end.

May 27, 2008 Summary: Alot takes place in chapter IX, X, and XII. Frankie's father heads off to England to get a good job and the family is very excited because he will send home five pounds a week and they won't be hungry for food again. However, after two weeks are up and they are to recieve the telegram with the money, the family is disappointed when the father doesn't send anything home. Frankie acquires a sore on his face that infects his eyes and it only gets worse when he gets a job with Mr. Hannon. He loves his job and he feels very mature and grown-up. He loves bringing the money home to his mother as well. Frankie's mother gets sick with pneumonia and she is sent to the hospital and Frankie and his brother's have to live with their aunt and uncle Pa Keating. They hate living with her because she is so mean to them. Their father comes home after he learns of the mother's illness.

Researcher: I learned a little about the author's background and this book is actually his memoir as a young child. When he was nineteen, he returned to the United States, enlisted in the army and was sent to Germany. After he was discharged, he once again returned to the U.S. and enrolled in college at New York University. He went on to be a teacher for 30 years. He recieved the Pulitzer Prize for his book, Angela's Ashes. He wrote a sequel to the book, titled 'Tis. He also wrote, Teacher Man. He nows lives in Connecticut with his wife.

May 28, 2008 Summary: In chapters XII and XIII, the main events that take place is that the family is evicted from their home after they tear down the ceiling for fire wood and they are forced to move into their Uncle Laman's home. Their father is no longer a part of their lives and he is gone for good. Frankie becomes fascinated with reading the Lives of the Saints in the library with his uncle's library card. When his uncle comes home sick and beats him, Frankie runs away to live with his other uncle and he is once again left hungry.

Discussion Director: On page 271, Frankie reflects that "it is a terrible thing to walk the world with skin showing through the holes of our stockings." Why does it seem that looking presentable is so important to them when all their neighbors can see that the family is extremely poor, but yet they try to not appear this way?

When the family moves in with Laman, it seems as though their living conditions have gotten better. They don't seem to be scrounging around for money anymore, they have their own lavatory, and they live with the uncle rent free. Why then, does the family, especially Frankie, seem even more unhappy living with him?