ipl-logo

Angela's Ashes And King Lear Analysis

1488 Words6 Pages

Change is a notion that has the ability to both positively and negatively affect one’s life. In both Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes and Shakespeare's King Lear, this idea is further developed in regards to family transformation. In both these works, both family’s struggle to affirm their bonds leading to upheaval in regards to their relationships. This idea of family transformation is evident when a family member is no longer present, when the family dynamics change and idealisms do not coincide with one another. The loss of a family member has the ability to place strain on those who are surrounded by it and cause transformation to one’s life. In McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, the family shares the inability to be financially stable due to Malachy’s …show more content…

Within Angela’s Ashes, the idealisms of the family were unable to meet, and the provider roles were switched. As mentioned, when Malachy was unable to affirm his role as a father, Frankie obtained his place. Frankie was now responsible to provide for his family, and the desperation and inability to escape the effects of poverty motivated him to only work harder. Despite several hardships, he illustrated precocious ability to cope. Thus quoting: “ They scream at me and tell me I'm filthy. I try to explain that Mam has the disease and I'm worn out trying to make ends meet, keeping the home fires burning, getting lemonade for Mam and bread for my brothers.” This illustrates Frankie living out his role as a provider and being motivated by not becoming what his father once was. In addition, the struggle to make idealisms meet in regards to Malachy and Angela is a motive responsible for their family transformation. Malachy was fixated on feeding his addiction, while Angela wanted to provide for her family. The inability to make these ends meet ultimately tore apart the two’s bond and overall family. Similar to that of King Lear, the power roles are constantly being switched between members of the family, thus struggling for idealisms to meet. This is first seen when Lear divides his kingdom up between his three daughters, essentially passing on his position of power to Regan and Goneril. To his surprise, his daughters plans were different to those of Lear causing madness throughout the Kingdom and their overall bond. In mentioning their diverging views, Goneril has an outburst to her father, he quotes: My train are men of choice and rarest parts That all particulars of duty know And in the most exact regard support The worships of their name. O most small fault, How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show, Which like an engine wrenched my

Show More
Related

  • An Analysis Of Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle

    768 Words  | 4 Pages

    Most of us are lucky enough to have a home. A place one can come to, and find those close to us. We often take this for granted, and stay blissfully unaware of how fortunate we are. Jeannette Walls’ life has been far from easy. From the day she was born, she and her family had combated constant forces of turbulence and order.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Hierarchy Of Reciprocal Violence In Angela's Ashes

    318 Words  | 2 Pages

    Zachary Binder Michael Arnold G period October 9, 2015 Hierarchy of Reciprocal Violence in Angela’s Ashes Throughout Angela’s Ashes the Hierarchy of Reciprocal violence is demonstrated through the nuns, the sick children, and the people working for the nuns. The nuns, being on the top, control what happens with their employees; an example of one would be seamus. Seamus then has power over the sick children because it was given to him by the nuns.

    Read More

  • Ashleigh's Ashes

    808 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the reasons why Ashes took the $200 was because she loved her dad more. In the article it said, “and I realized he still called me Ashes, where mom couldn’t hear him to be annoyed. And that made me feel special all over again. Mom might never be caught without batteries or tissues, but she just called me Ashleigh - a name she didn’t even like and never promised me anything.”

    Read More

  • Macbeth Act 4 Scene 1 Analysis

    947 Words  | 4 Pages

    This extract is from Act 4 Scene 1 of the acclaimed play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers of English literature in the history. He is famous for his poetries, quotes, tragic and comedy plays. We must assume that some of his writings on misery and warmth were a reflection of his own life experience. Love and marriage in his plays always ended miserably and symbolized as tragedies, or full of unnecessary disputes on trivial issues.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Angela's Ashes And The Street

    824 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Angela’s Ashes, the author uses the harsh winter weather to demonstrate the inconvenience of being poor and trying to survive in different conditions. “My brothers are back in bed playing games under the overcoats but they jump when they see the bread.” It seems that the only warmth that they can find is under their overcoats. Angela’s Ashes was set in the same time period as the great depression, which also negatively impacted the family. The kids focus on fires that they can see from “people 's windows and see how cozy it is in their kitchens with fires glowing,” This is the closest that they are going to get to the warmth radiating from the fires that they desperately wish to have.

    Read More

  • Summary Essay: The Education Of Dasmine Cathey

    852 Words  | 4 Pages

    He pointed out Mr. Cathey consistent bombardments of challenges and how he handle each situation. Every good point in his life such as becoming a father was met with a bad point in which he couldn’t go to school because he became a father. The author allowed us to feel happy for the situations that seemed any reasonable person would feel good about and upset about the unforeseen variables that tend to find Mr. Cathey. The author makes sure you feel the joy and pain of a young man who could have made it to a higher level but came up short because of his bad decision

    Read More

  • Ashes By Susan Beth Pfeffer Analysis

    510 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the main personality traits showing in Ashes’ dad in the story is manipulation. On multiple occasions, he tries to butter Ashes up to get her to do what he wants. “‘You look radiant,’ he said. ‘You get more and more beautiful.’ I was wearing jeans and a bulky brown sweater that Mom had given me for Christmas.”

    Read More

  • Comparing 'Glass Castle And Angela's Ashes'

    1675 Words  | 7 Pages

    Frankie 's parents can clearly see and accept the horror that is their poverty. This installs a hopelessness within them, seeing that they may never escape this undying poverty, so why bother trying. Both Angela and Malachy immediately turn to smoking and drinking respectively as a result of this desperation as a way to dull the pain that they feel. Not only are they dulling the pain of the obvious poverty that they face, but also the many children that pass away while living in Limerick; “The doctor leaves. My mother turns to the wall and doesn 't make a move or sound.

    Read More

  • The Braddock Family In Cinderella Man

    713 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many families suffered from economic hardships as well as emotional distress. Therefore the Braddock family overcame there challenges which are not having much to eat, not having money, and not having a place to live. To start with, one of the problems the Braddock family had was not having enough food to feed the whole family. For example, in

    Read More

  • Fear By Gary Soto Summary

    429 Words  | 2 Pages

    We knew the house he lived in: The empty refrigerator, the father gone, the mother in a sad bathrobe, the beatings, the yearnings for something to love” (Soto, Par. 10). It’s easy to see that Frankie is only in need of love, and without it his actions become sort of evil. Another examples comes in when we get a look at

    Read More

  • Theme Of Fear By Gary Soto

    1097 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the beginning portion of the short story, the protagonist/author describes Frankie T, and aids the reader in his or her understanding of Frankie T as a character. Frankie T as a character helps to illustrate the theme of the difference between poverty and a lower socioeconomic class. This quote, the opening sentence of the story (written by Soto), best depicts the theme: “A cold day after school, Frankie T, who would drown his brother by accident that coming spring and would use a length of pipe to beat a woman in a burglary years later […]” (479). Frankie T is really living in poverty.

    Read More

  • Seeing Medicine Walk Through A Lens Of Reconciliation Quotes

    461 Words  | 2 Pages

    He does not like his father, he left him when he was born because he was unable to take care of him, and Frank was not raised by his

    Read More

  • Loss Of Dignity In Malachy's

    200 Words  | 1 Pages

    I find it strange that even though Malachy drinks his wages away and doesn’t try hard getting a job, he still talks about dignity. He would say, “If you carry… [parcels, bags, and packages], you lose your dignity.” This gives me a feeling that Malachy is not completely hopeless, and may one day see the fault in his actions, and that when Malachy is trying hard, there are enjoyable times in the family. Nevertheless, this behavior can still be frustrating because when you want Malachy to help, if he feels that the situation may damage his dignity, he won’t do it. I can relate to this slightly because there are plenty of times when I want people to do something for me, but they won’t do it and I get vexed.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Dramatic Irony In Shameless

    881 Words  | 4 Pages

    The television series Shameless depicts a dysfunctional family of Frank Gallagher who is a single father of six children in which he spends most of his days on drugs and having misadventures while his kids learn to take care of themselves and survive with doing petty jobs to keep their house. Among the many characters are Fiona, Carl, and Frank. Fiona is the main protagonist who is like the mother of the family and maintains the family afloat but the other siblings have to do their part in the household. Carl is the second youngest boy in the family who has struggles with fitting in society and tries to find who he is by being apart of different groups. In season six, episode three of the series, each characters uses satirical and comedic devices to address social issues of poverty, society, and parenthood that is shown through verbal irony, dramatic irony and understatement.

    Read More

  • Lies And Manipulation In King Lear

    842 Words  | 4 Pages

    In addition, the negative connotation of “nothing” repeated several times and the breakdown of the language foreshadows a breakdown of the family. As she reasons about her answer, Cordelia also expresses her compassion towards her father through a hyperbole by stating, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth” (Lear 1.1.93-94). Justifying her response, Cordelia expresses that her love towards him cannot be properly expressed as she contrasts how he has “begot [her], fed [her], loved [her]” and in return she “obeyed [him], loved [him], and most honored [him]” to show that she loves her fathers as much as their relationship requires (Lear 1.1.99-101). Though she speaks from her heart, Lear ultimately rejects her argument, recognizing that she is not worthy of his wealth as expressed through his belittling tone. As a result, Lear blesses his kingdom upon his ungrateful, lying daughters who he believes to have loved him the most when in fact, he exiled the only daughter to have truly loved him.

    Read More

More about Angela's Ashes And King Lear Analysis

Open Document