Angela's Ashes

1 Pages 343 Words

The perspective of the author changes throughout the novel as Frank comes of

age. Early he is naive and immature but as he grows older he becomes more aware of

things going on around him. The style of the novel doesn’t change but the context and

perception of events do.

Early in Frankie’s life he is very innocent and immature. He doesn’t like to hear

his father tell the Cuchulain story to other people and gets angry when he does and when

his father comes home drunk and penniless it doesn’t seem to bother him much. He

doesn’t realize how shamefully his father is behaving by spending his wages in the bars.

He and his brothers get out of bed promising to die for Ireland in hopes of receiving a

nickel, a nickel that Malachy doesn’t have but they hope anyway. Later at his first

communion he believes that because he heard the word piss he won’t get his collection

money.

As Frank grows older he begins to question some of these things. He learns to

share his Cuchulain story with other people which shows his maturity. He begins to resent

his father for his despicable behavior and finally realizes that no matter how many times

they promise to die for Ireland, they’re not going to receive any money. He pursues his

curiosity about his changing body and the opposite sex as he grow older and also begins

to somewhat question Catholicism. After the death of Theresa, Frank prays to the statue

of St. Francis in hopes of sending her to heaven. When his prayers are not answered he

feels betrayed by the Catholic church, something which he has never questioned before.

All these events help illustrate how Frank’s point of view change throughout his

childhood. The method which McCourt displays this is very effective because its a very

gradual change throughout the novel. There isn’t one moment where Frank all of a

sudden becomes aware of his situati...