Portfolio for Angela\'s Ashes PDF

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All my essays over the past year, grouped up into one document. There is a 7 page essay included over Angela's Ashes and how the characters socioeconomic status impacts their life. It focuses on Frank, the father, and how his drinking, heritage, etc, impact how he is seen. ...

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Short Essay Frank loved to read because he felt like it was an escape from the world he lived in. While he was self-driven to read on his own, there were many aspects in his life that pushed him to read. When Frank would sit by the fire in the morning with his father, learning all the stories of the Irish. Reading to Mr. Timoney when he delivered his newspaper. Patricia giving him the history book to read in the hospital. These events in his life shaped him to have a curiosity for reading. Sitting by the fire with Frank every morning was a routine Malachy went through. Frank loved to here these stories because he was very curious to learn new things. Malachy’s motive was sort of fatherly like. He wanted his kid to know about his heritage and where he came from. Frank appreciates his father for this, which is the reason he always tries to be positive about his dad, even though he does stuff that harms the family in the long run. Frank knows that his father is just hurting from all the deaths of his children, and drinking is how he copes with it. When Frank joins his uncle delivering papers, he starts reading to Mr. Timoney for some extra money. Mr. Timoney’s motive was to try and teach someone about the Buddhism way of thinking about articles and he enjoyed it when he got to comment to Frank about the readings. Frank appreciates this because he got to get another look into a different way of thinking about the articles in the newspaper. Frank also accepts this because he is getting extra money to read to Mr. Timoney. Frank met Patricia in the hospital he went to the first time he got sick. She was kind of like Frank’s friend in the hospital, giving him his first history books with the words of Shakespeare. Patricia’s motive was just a friendly gesture, because she was alone in the hospital.

For Frank this is an important moment because this is the first taste of Fiction he got in his life when he was in the hospital. The poems Patricia would tell him were unlike anything he has ever heard. After he is exposed to this, he just cannot stop reading, he spends the whole time at the hospital reading and even when he goes home, he continues to read. One thing that shows how much he cared for the readings Patricia showed him, is when Patricia died, he was more worried about the end to the poem she was reciting to him, rather than her dying. Which also shows how used to death he is, that it doesn’t affect him anymore. Through the events in his life and the people he met, like Mr. Timoney and Patricia, Frank shaped his own path for reading and writing. Curiosity fueled Frank’s urge to learn new thing and enhance his literacy. Frank’s availability to learn about literacy can be seen as the only thing that was not harsh in his grim childhood.

20 September 2017 The Dads Downfalls In Angela’s Ashes, the dad is usually seen as a slob who does not help the family at all. This is seen similar in the movie and in the book. The father takes all the money he makes and spends it on pints and on buying other strangers pints. The significant difference that I notice is the way we see the father transgress into the alcoholic he is. In the book Malachy is already

known for drinking away their money, coming home drunk and telling the boys stories of Ireland and how great it is. In the movie, we see the death of the beautiful sister Margaret become the thing that leads the father to become a horrible drunk. After the death of sister Margaret, we see Malachy in a bar, drinking the pain away. It also becomes increasingly bad in the movie after the twins die. This shows the difference the movie wanted to focus on, having the alcoholism of the dad spring off the pain he feels when his kids die, making us feel sympathy for the dad. This is different than the book because, we feel no sympathy, because even before the kids die he still hurts his family by drinking all their money away, so the reader automatically has the sense of hatred for Malachy. Another difference I see portrayed differently in the book and in the movie, is the connection Frank McCourt has with his dad Malachy. In the book Frank loves his dad, they would sit by the fire every morning and he would listen to his dad talk about Irish stories, and love them. There was a true genuine connection he had with his dad, so his dad’s alcohol problem was not obvious to him. In the movie, we see Frank have this connection, but it is not as emphasized. From the beginning in the movie we could see that Frank knew that his dad was the reason all the money was gone, but when he tried to confront him in the bar, he couldn’t do it because of the connection he had with him. So the connection was there, it just was not emphasized in the movie, which I feel like is a big part in why Frank respected his father, so leaving this out made the viewer question why Frank stands up for his father in the movie. Another example of this, is when the father comes home drunk after spending the baby’s money, when the dad asks if the sons want their Friday penny they say no. This part seems so negative but, the movie did not give the context of the times where the boys did accept them and the dad

would make them state their loyalty to Ireland. So giving this context would of helped the viewer understand the transition from respecting their dad, to disrespecting comes from. The Father’s roll in Franks early life is downplayed and Franks connection with him is downplayed and not expressed as much in the movie as in the book. By doing this the viewer is not given any context to why the dad is the person he is and why Frank has such a strong connection to him.

Reuben Sachs Social Mobility Reuben Sachs is a book that shows how Jewish life was at the time and how social status is achieved in their environment. The book shows different scenarios of how one person can achieve social status while another can do it differently. In the case of Reuben, he uses his ambitions and hard work to get a good job to move up in social status. Meanwhile, using typical marriage rules, Judith moves up in social status in the traditional way, by marring a man who is already in high social rank. These are two contrasting ways of social mobility show a gender specific way of social mobility as well. Reuben uses his wants and ambitions to strive to be excellent. This results in him getting an excellent job that nobody thought he would ever get. Reuben had to work hard, arguably to

the point of death, to get to the social position he got to at the end of the novel. This shows how most Jewish men, if not born in a family of high social status, must work hard to get to the “top.” It also shows that if you do not have the knowledge that you need to do this, you will not be able to move up in social rank. Judith’s social mobility only depended on what family she married into. Judith married this man who had high social status so she was adopted into this high social status group. This shows how it is easier for women in this society to move up in social status. For men you must work, but some can argue that women have to do little to no work to improve in social status. Something can also be said about how this also affects the way marriage is, in this Jewish society it is not about love, it is only based on social rank. This is why Judith never married Reuben, because she might of loved him, but she was more concerned about Reuben being of low social status rather then this love. There are events in the book that show how much of a connection they have, but the society tradition of marrying into high social status overweighed this connection. The focus of this Jewish society of high social class sometimes can take control of the way they live their life and the way they view love. This shows in Reuben because his drive to get an excellent job was influenced by this want to be in higher rank. Judith also shows this in the way she viewed marriage as something that should improve your social rank and then love can come later. This way of viewing life is different than our typical view of life and marriage now. In our western way of living, love is very important and people like to enjoy what their doing. But sometimes that underlying want to achieve this social mobility can be there even in our western society today. Which leads me to ask, does the love really matter or should social mobility be the ultimate goal?

http://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/umkc/islandora/object/umkc%3A1210

November 9th, 2017

This is an old picture of the uptown theatre, showing people standing in a line that wraps around the building to see “The Egg And I.” This picture is a part of the Joseph K. Redmond collection of old theatres around Kansas City. This picture was published in March of 1947 in Kansas City, Missouri. It was taken at 37th Street and Broadway. This photo was taken at the height of the theatre business around this time when everyone was coming to the theatre. This picture does a good job of showing the development of architecture and technology. This building was built in 1928 when classical and renaissance architecture was believed to be a sign of prestige. So lots of theatres were being built in this style. Domes were also something heavily used around that time, for public buildings. The theatre was used as the main form of public entertainment. This building was built after the great depression so people would use the theatre to escape reality and go be truly entertained. At this time there was no Netflix, so the theatre is where you would go for all the latest entertainment. This is why we see lines stretching out the door on opening day because theatres were always like this, they were the places “to be.” The Uptown Theater was renovated in 1994 to expand and create more room space from the original theater. Since theater has fallen from its former importance in the realm of entertainment, the newly renovated rooms had different aesthetics such as bars and party spaces. Today it operates as a smaller theater where plays are screened and as rental spaces for parties, most popularly weddings and proms. When viewing its downfall, we can correlate it to the increasing advancements of technology in today’s society. The modern era does not have the attention span of its predecessors. With the invention of the television and internet, the desire to go to the theater decreased. Why go to the theater when you can stream movies and tv shows straight to your television or mobile device? The Uptown theater had to change their business towards hosting events rather

than performances because people were no longer regularly lining up outside their doors as seen in the picture. Along with the modern era came the improvements to the theater’s outer image. Neon signs loom in bold letters attracting visitors and the décor inside has also become more modern. This contrasts to the paper signs seen in the picture. The dome was also one of the main features attracting visitors as it was seen to be prestigious. Its architecture was admired inside and out. If a college student were to pass by it today however, they may not even give it a second look. Domes and renaissance architecture are no longer prominent in the public’s eye as they once were. Another feature that attracts the public now is the bar, which has become a prominent feature of its business. This is a big change because it was built during the years of Prohibition (1920-1933) when alcoholic substances were ground for arrest. This just illustrates how the progression of society can change the way we see architecture and the spaces it creates.

27 October 2017 Frank’s Social Mobility In the book Angelas Ashes we see a young boy, Frank McCourt, who struggles to move up in social mobility. Frank grew up with a dad who did not help him achieve social mobility and he had to do it himself. Throughout his childhood he had people who helped his social mobility, but he also had some people who halted it. To analyze Frank’s social mobility and how easy/ not easy it was for him to achieve it, I am going to be looking at the typical Irish man and how they achieved their social status. I will be looking at how literacy can help a man achieve social status at these times, looking at how easily available schooling was and how much they advanced your social status. I will also be looking at how the Irish church helped with the expansion of a kids discourse and how much they helped people move up in social status. Then finally I will be looking at the military to see what things were going on in terms of veterans of the army, how they helped veterans of the Irish army. Frank McCourt was born in Brooklyn, New York in the 1930s, in the middle of the great depression. The depression was very hard on their family, so they moved back to Limerick where Angela, Frank’s mother, is from. Angela’s family did not like Malachy, Frank’s dad, because he was from Northern Ireland. England, a protestant nation, took over Northern Ireland, when this happened it divided the nation into the catholic south and the protestant England north. This is also known as Unionist vs. Nationalists. The Catholic religion in southern Ireland consisted of a Pope and a main church. Only the Roman Catholic church can interpret the bible and it upholds

very strict traditions. The religion consists of Nuns and Priests that pray to saints and that use holy water. Protestant religion is different because they believe no human is infallible, acknowledge saints but don’t pray to them, each individual can interpret the bible in their own way and the bread and wine is symbolic instead of being so literal. So, this contrast in religion resulted in two different types of culture in Ireland. In the terms of Malachy and Angela, Malachy was never going to marry Angela in the first place. Since Angela’s religion required that Malachy did marry, he was forced to. Even though Malachy was from Northern Ireland, he was Catholic, so Frank and his siblings were required to practice Catholicism. Since Malachy was from protestant Ireland, he was seen as an outcast. Angela’s family typically calling him a no good northerner. Frank was often made fun of because he was a “hybrid”, he had northern blood in him. So at the beginning I would say it was hard for Frank and his family to be accepted in Limerick, which set them low on the social pole right away. In school Frank felt the same negative energy towards him as he did in public. Kids would tease about him being mixed and schooling was not easy for him. In Limerick at the time school was all about the religion, you went to school to learn about religion and the history of Ireland. There was a strong mix of church and education, they believed that education should come from the word of God. We see this in Angela’s Ashes because in every school scene they are talking about religion. You can imagine how this was troubling for Frank. Anyone affiliated with the north was always doubted for faith. Since Frank was known in public for of “Northern blood”, even teachers doubted his catholic faith and punished him for it. Frank McCourt at first is very confused about religion, not understanding what the importance of it is. This confusion springs from explanations that were never given. When Frank would ask questions often he would be punished for questioning religion. When Frank asked

why Jesus must die on Easter, instead of them giving him an explanation on religion, they said “You can’t ask questions like that.” The church never truly explained this image of religion to Frank and why he should follow it, so he remained curious. The way the church made the youth follow religion, was through guilt. “The Virgin Mary turns her face away and weeps at the sight of adultry.” Kids like Frank would have no clue as to why they are following the religion, but the church would use fear and guilt to scare the kids into wanting to follow the religion. Frank believes he is doomed throughout the novel because of his impure thoughts but he never changes his ways because he was never given a good explanation, all he receives are threats. As Frank gets older he starts getting frustrated with the church, he starts noticing how the church has no regards for the poor. In the catholic church, the Nuns and noble people are the last people who offer any help to the poor. They force religion on you but are never there when you, physically need help. As Frank starts thinking for himself and starts noticing these flaws, he also thinks of all the time the church has “shut the door in his face.” One example of this is when Malachy tried to sign Frank up as an altar boy. The church took one look at Frank, saw he was a different color and from a different place they shot him down. All the kids who truly wanted to be in the religion were altar boys. But because Frank was a little different the church denied him access. Another example of this is when Frank tried to sign up for secondary school after regular school, all his teachers knew he had the promise and that he was smart enough. So when Angela took Frank to get in, they shut the door in his face because of what Frank looked like. It shows how biased the catholic Irish church was towards people of different ethnicity. Even though they try and force Frank to follow their religion, they keep pushing him out by never truly accepting him. This really bothers Frank because he does not believe they are acting as they should be. “They are supposed to be like Our Lord, not walking around threatening people’s hands.”

With this I believe that the church did not help Frank achieve social mobility at all. I feel like it restricted him and kept trying to keep him where he was. They would say that God will help him, but they are supposed to be disciples of god, they are supposed to help too, not just threaten the word of god. Another key factor that dragged Frank down in his social status, was his father Malachy. I see a parallel in the way Malachy stunted his growth just like the church has. Malachy essentially slammed the door in his own sons face and his family just like the church did to him. Instead of being there to provide for his family he chose to go and spend all their money and not care about them. “The one in the morning with the paper, the one at night with the stories and the prayers, and the one who does bad things and comes home with the smell of whisky and wants us to die for Ireland.” Frank loves his father but feels disappointed by him a lot of the time. Malachy was not all negative, he did read to Frank every morning by the fire which improved his ability to read and he did tell him stories of where he is from. But Malachy hurt his son by keeping him poor his whole childhood and by making it harder for him to succeed. We see the source of Malachy’s drinking spring from his country not accepting him. Malachy claimed to have served in the Irish military in their fight for freedom against Britain. When asking for Penury from the IRA they had no records of his service. The loss of military records was very common back then in their military state. At the time of the war, some citizens, signed up for the military or not, could be fighting in the war. In Malachy’s pension file he claimed to serve with third battalion and fourth brigade for the IRA. Back then anyone if they had loyalty for Ireland, fought against Britain. Knowing this, I feel like maybe the reason Malachy never had a record is because I don’t believe he was ever truly in the military. I just believe he fought with his country for freedom. In

military archives, Malachy states that he fought when the British burned his house down, maybe this is when he started fighting, never truly being in the military but fighting along side them. Throughout Frank’s life, it is the people he meets, that are not of the typical people in Limerick, that help him achieve social status. Frank’s curiosity to learn new things drove him to strive for better things in his life than the catholic church and his home life. In Limerick, the men who abide by tradition and who are well educated succeed. So Franks’ want for a better education pushed him in th...