Community Vs. Family In Angela's Ashes

857 Words4 Pages
What is family? Is it strangers that live under one roof? People who betray one another? Family is a group of people, most commonly tight-knit, that should always be there for support and back up regardless of the situation. Community, unlike close and extended family, enabled the McCourt family to survive through donations of money and support. Webster defines community as a “unified body of individual”. In Angela’s Ashes that definition truly shines through. In the opening page of the memoir Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt expresses the thought, “When I look back at my childhood I wonder how I survived at all”(11). Through various forms of donations, the community that Frank McCourt and his family lived with enabled them to survive. Time was something big that was donated to the struggling Irish family. While the community did whatever they could with the time they had, extended and close family did the polar opposite. Though the story takes place-for the most part- in a different country, Ireland, families are most commonly all the same. They are there for each other no matter the when, where, or why of the situation. Frankie McCourt’s grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins did little to nothing in contributing in any situation, let alone one where their help was probably needed the most. If there was one thing that Malachy and Angela McCourt could put on the top of the list of what they needed help with, it would be money. Malachy had trouble keeping a job. While in Ireland, the community aided him with dole money. While it wasn’t as much as he would make with a job, it was what got his family through the constant tough times. The Saint Vincent de Paul Society as well helped the family by the constant dockets the McCourt family was receiving. When they moved to the lane they needed furniture. The community gave it to them. When one of the children fell ill
Open Document