Ireland: a new life for the McCourts

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Recommended: Angela's ashes analysis

In Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes”, the McCourts take the decision of leaving North America and returning to their homeland in Ireland. This decision might be contradictory in certain terms and positive in others. Inquiring about the historical context of the country they were leaving behind and the one they were returning to, did the McCourts decide correctly?
The 1930’s and 1940’s were years in which the world was seriously concerned about economy. In 1929, The United States, the world’s economical power, was one of the most affected nations by the great depression: its unemployment rate rose to 25% and the personal income, tax revenue and prices dropped. Many families within the country started to starve and the McCourts were not the exception. Malachy could not get any work to support his family due to the difficult situation in the country, and when he finally found one, he wasted all his wages and money in the pub. Frank’s life in America has good and bad memories. However, the great depression is present in the crisis the family fell into and in the unemployment of Malachy.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Ireland was facing its own conflict with the British Empire. The Irish were fighting for their economical independence from the United Kingdom. Ireland was not going to be an associated British country anymore but an independent and free republic. Nevertheless, the British started demanding the Irish for more taxes and goods in order to sign an official independence. This caused a general economical crisis in the country that the government did face and that improved with the time. Fortunately, in 1942 Ireland was declared and independent nation. When the McCourts ...

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...conclusion, the McCourt’s decision was appropriate because concerning both, North American and Irish historical contexts at the time, Ireland was a rising country while the United States declined: hope was not present within the North Americans but it was in the Irish. In the psychological aspect, Frank’s family was willing to rebuild their life after the loss of Margaret and the progressive depression of Angela. They needed a new place to begin their lives.

Works Cited

Great depression. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression
Lambert, T. (n.d.). A brief history of ireland. Retrieved from http://www.localhistories.org/irehist.html
Rosenberg, J. (n.d.). The great depression. Retrieved from http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/p/greatdepression.htm
1930 in ireland. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930_in_Ireland

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