Addiction in Angela's Ashes Essay

Addictions toll on the family

In the book Angelas Ashes by Frank McCourt, Franks family is burdened by addiction from both his mother and his father. Although his mothers addiction is arguably brought about by the effects of his fathers, both still take a heavy toll on the family. The problems are seen through the eyes of Frank McCourt, the oldest son in the family and witness to the many problems that it holds over the years.

While the McCourts are in America, Malachys alcoholism starts causing problems for the Irish-American family. He would constantly spend all of the money that was put aside for food and the cost of living on alcohol. This took a toll on the family because they were forced to live off of next to nothing. While Malachy was very kind to his children and told them stories, he was unintentionally hurting them a great deal. Frank knows his father is doing damage to the family by all of his drinking but he does not want to show contempt for his father. When Frank says I know when Dad does the bad thing. I know when he drinks the dole money and Mam is desperate and has to beg . . . but I don't want to back away from him and run to Mam. How can I do that when I'm up with him early every morning with the whole world asleep? (McCourt 257) it is shown that he feels conflicted towards his father. Although his addiction restricts his family to a life of extreme poverty they still love him as a dad and husband respectively.

While Malachys alcoholism did remain a prominent problem throughout the book, there is a short period where he loses the habit completely and does not even touch the drink. This period was brought on by the birth of his daughter and fourth-born child: Margaret. Malachy loves his new daughter to no end and stops drinking alcohol because he would rather be sober with his little girl than drunk in some pub. He used to only want a pint from the bar, Now he cries over Margaret and he has no smell of drink on him. (McCourt 30). The whole family was never happier until tragedy strikes the unfortunate group. The little sister dies of disease and the family returns to depression and alcoholism returns to Malachy. The McCourts show that life is not easy for an Irish family living in New York.

When the McCourts move to Ireland, they leave behind their home, friends, and a lot of their belongings but bring back something that they should have left behind: Alcoholism. When they finally are able to move back into Angelas hometown of Limerick they live in a house that is not much better than what they left in the United States. In fact, this house is considerably worse than their home in New York. They have to share a lavatory, which is located right in front of their house and leaves a nasty odor and sometimes overflows, with their neighbors. Being in Limerick, which is a part of southern Ireland, makes finding a job even more difficult because the southern Irish hate those from the North like Franks father. Not only does this make finding a job next to impossible it also gets him a great deal of disrespect from the community, especially from Angelas sister and mother. This even pushes Angela to a depressed state for a while where all she can do is smoke woodbine cigarettes and drink lemonade, neglecting her own children. Frequently, throughout the book, she must go to the St. Vincent de Paul Society in order to receive welfare for her family. This remains the only source of money for the McCourts due to the fact that when Malachy actually does get a job he ends up losing it or using his wages on alcohol.

Angelas Ashes shows the reader how an addiction can wreak havoc on a family, especially when that family has little to begin with. Frank tells this story of hardships due to his fathers alcoholism and how his family was able to survive in the twentieth century in both The United States of America and in Ireland. Malachys drinking problem really hindered the McCourts potential to succeed and should never have been there at all. Addiction is one of the worst things that can happen to a family.