Angela's Ashes Essay

Family has a large impact on one’s life because they provide support and guidance at a time when one is making important decisions. In Nino Ricci’s Lives of the Saints and Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, family plays a large role in shaping the lives of the protagonists, Vittorio Innocente and Frank McCourt respectively. Having distant fathers results in the boys’ loss of innocence and naiveté, as their fathers never have the chance to explain the mysteries of life to them. Frank’s and Vittorio’s grandparents actions result in the distrust towards their own families. The boys’ incapable mothers results in them not knowing what a family structure is, which in turn causes them to look to alternate people for parental figures. The family dysfunction

Grandparents are meant to spoil and support their grandchildren no matter what the circumstance. They are supposed to be second parents to their grandchildren. In Vittorio’s case, his grandfather is a bad influence on him. This is because when life gets difficult, Vittorio’s grandfather isolates himself from those around him and turns to alcohol for consolation. This has a negative impact on Vittorio because it demonstrates to him that it is okay so solve your problems by drinking. There are alternate ways of dealing with problems instead of using alcohol as a coping mechanism. Similarly, Frankie’s grandmother is a bad influence as well because she is rigid and unforgiving towards the McCourts. She treats Frank very harshly when he accidentally throws up on his First Communion. It is not Frank’s fault that he throws up the host and his grandmother cannot seem to see that. Instead of being concerned for her grandchild and his well being, she rushes him off to confession. Frank feels insignificant and misunderstood because of this. Another incident is when Frank accidentally eats Bill Galvin’s meal, he narrates, “What am I going to do now? Grandma will destroy me”(McCourt 137). This demonstrates his grandmother’s unforgiving personality and how Franks feels about her. He does not trust her nor does he feel he can go to her for support. This is a negative aspect of his personality because family should be the one place one feels safe and his grandmother deprives him of that. Next, their grandparents are extremely unsupportive towards their families. Vittorio’s grandfather does not try to console his daughter and help her fix the problem her affair created. Instead, he adopts the village’s standpoint on the topic and either ignores or yells at her. The grandfather could have helped the situation, especially for Vittorio’s benefit, but he decides to ignore it.