"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." -Oscar Wilde
POVERTY: This quote of Oscar Wilde's explains the events explained in Angela's Ashes in every best way possible. When you read this quote, one can gain the sense of how a person, or many persons can be haunted by the misfortunes of life...with the most prominent one being poverty. This is most certainly the case for the meek McCourt family. Angela and Malachy...two people of simple roots are joined together in marriage, but who would ever have thought that problems would be such as they are. I feel, and I am sure that others would agree, that the McCourt family, mostly Angela, cannot seem to get a break! Angela has more mouths than she can feed...and she is so overwhelmed...there is essentially no way for her to escape! From America to Ireland, poverty consistently follows them...and there is now getting away. When they have to resort to hand-outs from thankfully gracious shopkeepers, you know that they have finally hit rock bottom. Not only must poverty follow the McCourt family every day, but they must also live with the death of their children, especially, the precious baby girl, Margaret.
SIN: Parents always want to teach their children good values, but as said in the quote, along with Poverty also comes SIN...Frank must resort to wrong-doings and sin, just so that he could obtain sustenance from his family. Frank, probably knowing that it was wrong, stole bananas from the street corner just so that he could provide sustenance for he and his brothers. Only desperate times of despair would cause a well-raised person to do something such as this. The father, Malachy McCourt takes part in his own moral sin as well because of his drinking problem. IT IS TRULY A SIN that he chooses to drink rather than putting food in the mouths of his children. In times of poverty comes sin, from sin then comes a sense of despair and...
MISERY: Every day poor Angela McCourt is a tortured soul. With the stress of caring for her children and the stress of losing some of her children, the like, really has made her into a person with a heart torn into pieces. She must move from NY to only be around members of her family that resent her because of the choices that she has made, such as having so many children. However, the truth is, she has a good heart despite her mistakes, and she loves all of her children...even though she may not be able to care for them properly. Every day, the focus of that day's happenings is "How are we going to get by?"... Picking stray coal from the streets and looking for charity and hand-outs, I am sure, is very miserable for Angela, knowing that her life has gone in such a harsh direction...and this is what brings her to ...
SHAME: Shame for the fact that she has let things get this way, shame from the fact that her husband is a lousy drunk that cannot provide for their family, shame that her children a dirty...DEAD...and uncared for. Shame is knowing that you cannot live your life in the way that you planned it.
Oscar Wilde knows perfectly the life of the McCourt family. Their days follow a strict schedule of pain and misery...their lives are haunted with poverty...and the truth is, that these things are a part of their everyday lives.
8 comments:
I do agree with this quote being the best suited one for Angela's Ashes. I also agree that the McCourt family cannot seem to catch a break. Poverty is always around them, in the fact they have no food, very little clothing, and even the house they have to live in right next to the lavoratory. I also mentioned that Frank had to resort to stealing to keep some of his younger siblings fed. I like how you wrote the part on shame and how its short and to the point. I also liked how you wrote the whole blog splitting it up into sections with the quote, it puts emphasis on what you're writing about.
Dear Trap Shooting Girl,
After reading a memoir like Angela's Ashes, one can truly see the pain and suffering that the McCourt family went through.I liked how you backed up your choice of quote with examples from the text because you made it very clear how both the text and the quote tied in together.The McCourt family was stricken by sin, poverty, and suffering, and you made very clear references into your writing. Great Job! PS: Good luck with your Thrianta! =)
Hey Tator and Kabunky!
Thank you for your replies...That is exactly what was in my mind when I was writing my blog. I did spilt up my blog in order to create a better focus on the quote..I hope you guys are enjoying the book! P.S Kabunky! Thanks for your wish of lucky with my new bunny ;)
I really liked how you broke down the quote and addressed every aspect seperately. I felt like I could focus better as the reader. Also, I agree that Angela seems to be suffering the most because of her husband's selfish actions. Poverty, sin, misery, and shame are having an unfortunate effect on this family. But anyway, nice job! :)
Hey Emar!
Thank you for your reply! I thought that separating the focuses of the quotes would make for a better analysis...I think that it helps to better describe the actual situation that they are in.
You write: "This is most certainly the case for the meek McCourt family."
How interesting. I don't think I would have considered the McCourt family meek. I wonder how you define meek.
The Teach--
This is certainly a good question.. I guess to clarify my words...I was thinking more about the quiet nature of the mother, and the spirit of the family, as in times when the children died, when I defined the family as meek.
You write, "I was thinking more about the quiet nature of the mother, and the spirit of the family, as in times when the children died, when I defined the family as meek."
Meek is a curious term. We can view it as a virtue or a weakness. It is one of those words that may be interpreted much differently than we intend.
Post a Comment