Blog Post Week 8 Jebediah Pritchard

Blog Post Week 8 Jebediah Pritchard(responded to Ashley Dillon)

Everyone has a mother and a father, this is biology.
In Catholic Ireland at the time of the story, your parents
had to be married for you to be a legitimate child. If you were
conceived outside of the union of marriage, you are a bastard child.
Which is what Frank learns that he indeed is , a bastard child.
These vital lessons told to him by Mikey. Religious atonement, it seems
is the only way to prevent the soul in such a case from eternal damnation,
for as was posed at the time by the Catholics, a life in Limbo, a now defunct
idea within the hierarchy of Catholicism. The Catholics untimely admitted that they made up Limbo.
Rather like selling indulgences, as Frank can perhaps, through ritualistic purification
save his soul from Limbo and hell. This is a sick and depraved atmosphere for one to live.
An atmosphere of dark clouds of doom and fear, fear that will subside only with
proper adherence to Catholic Rites. It is really an atmosphere of damnation.
How does one stay positive in such an atmosphere?

Response to Ashley Dillon

There were a larger number of posts available in the capital(London) than in Erie. So
moving to England does make sense. I think that the dad does not send money back
because he disassociates , mentally and physically from his family. Frank's family has a
hard lot, this does not mean that Frank's dad has an easy on in England. It is hard to predict
what one would do in such a circumstance, saying that he was bad for doing X, must be viewed,
to a degree, within the context of the situation.

Blog Post Week 7 Jebediah Pritchard

Everyone has, to some degree a connection to their Motherland. The Motherland for the characters in Angela's Ashes is The Republic of Ireland. The notion is introduced of leaving Ireland.Malachy senior reviews his lot in life and moves to England. He says that he will help his family, that he will send them money to improve their lives. This seems rather well, at least on two accounts. Angela has told Malachy that she shall have no more children. This brings about a discordance between the two of them, because not having any more children, in their society and their religious situation, means not having sex anymore. Therefore, to an extent, a physical distance between Angela and Malachy appears to be a good thing. Perhaps the move will ease tensions. The other way that moving to England would help the family would be the money that Malachy senior would send back to his family. There are a lot more opportunities for employment in England and in the capital than in Ireland. Though Malachy does not give the money to his family, he does not help his wife nor kids. It is all rather sickening. A better situation is wished by everyone.

Week 7 Angela's Ashes Ashley Dillon

Right off the bat of today’s reading (Chapter 9) there is an example of religious prejudice. Frank’s mother says that she is through with having children. Frank’s dad says that if she was a good Catholic, she’d do her duty. This is just an example of religion versus reality. The McCourt’s’ really mustn’t have had so many children, but as a good catholic –well, you get the idea. At the end of the chapter, I really wasn’t surprised that Frank’s dad didn’t send the money in. if he didn’t do it in Ireland, where he could see his family starve, why would he in England? Asking for help at the dispensary was another example of prejudice against poverty. Angela wants her kids to look dirty so they would be more sympathetic towards her, which is what eventually causes her to get money even when their hopes looked glum. Then, Angela gets sick with pneumonia and the boys have to live with Aunt Aggie. That was horrible. She constantly looked down on them and had no regard for them whatsoever, especially for Frank, who so closely resembled his father-from-the-north. That whole entire part was extremely sad and full of example of prejudice against the poor. For example, Frank notices that the Jesuits are only nice to people who drive around in their cars and poke their little fingers up when drinking tea, i.e. rich people. They have no need for the poor. This is the first time Frank has blatantly said this. It has always been hinted but I think Frank is now finally realizing how the rest of the world treats him and others like him.

Blog Post Week 6 Jebediah Pritchard

Blog Post Week 6 Jebediah Pritchard Reaction to Ashley B

Catholicism plays a central role in the lives of the characters in Angela's Ashes.
In class it has been mentioned several times that the Irish don't or may not have national
pride, and as it was dispelled in class, that was a not good thing , well maybe. Something
that is national and is deeply engrossed in their lives is their religion. Catholicism is central to
all aspects of their lives. The youths attend religious schools, the weekends are managed around
church. The a rite of Catholic passage is mentioned in the reading. That of the ingestion of the blood and body of Christ. To not pass this rite is a horror and to pass is a further step into
the vestments of the body of the Catholic faith. That one, Frank, in our example will become further closer to God, further Catholic.

What if someone was not Catholic, did not believe in its message. Of course many of the people did , just that they say that they did believe, it was not the thing to do to not be Catholic. This is anti intellectualism and generalized backwardness. When the parting of the Catholics and the Protestants occurred, one was to have the ability to be Christian as one wanted, well it is well established that one could only be the type of Christian that your country followed, and not until our times have atheistic moments be met with less horrible results by the followers of the Cross.

Reaction to Ashley B

The Dad is without a generally speaking proper stable job, and it is mentioned that he is not dumb and could maybe seek better vocation. Well maybe. The life events that Malachy finds himself in are hard. He is not weak nor deficient, our environment plays a strong role in our lives. Having many children, having children die, having dis concordance with your wife, having bad jobs, in as much as working rather hard for low pay, these events to not entertain good tidings. Such experiences that the husband faces, as reinforced by the other husbands doing the same, serve to lessen a man a wear away at his spirit. To call the father weak, that is to say that the vast majority would be weak, given the common lot and common problems of the Irish people at the time.

Blog Post #6

Upon reading the book “Angela’s Ashes”, I am beginning to fall deeper into the book. This book is truly a classic modern memoir, but also funny and forgiving. Each week the readings grow more interesting, and I fall more in love with the boys. I think the best part about this book is the narrator, Frank, and that it comes from his perspective. I also notice that Frank is like his father in a way that they both are great story tellers. The father, Malachy, still is unemployed. What upsets me even more is Malachy is an educated smart man, and the fact that he still doesn’t have a job puts me in distraught. He continues to waste his money at the ‘pub’ even though his family is starving. The day Frank made his First Communion, and threw up his dinner was my favorite part in the book so far. His grandmother made him go to confession twice that day to find out what she should do with ‘God’ in her backyard. This just shows how religious people are in Ireland. His grandmother is insane, and I understand why their family doesn’t live with her anymore. I was really relived to know that Angela didn’t punish Frank for skipping school. She was too concerned about her old dance partner, Mr. Clohessy, who is deathly ill.
-Ashley B

Chelsey Cresap week 5

Even though we have only read the first two chapters of "Angela's Ashes" I can honestly say I enjoy it much more than "The Dubliners." The Dubliners was full of hidden meanings and told stories through metaphors and similes. Joyce went about his stories n a round about way, he never got straight to the point. "Angela's Ashes" s much more entertaining. It is easy o follow and understand. It is more of what I am used to.

There are obvious similarities between these to books. The themes all have to do with the downsides of Ireland. Already in just the first two chapters we see themes of alcoholism. Frank's father is an alcoholic. He sends the families money for food on his binge drinking but it is his only way to cope with them pain of his miserable life. There is also a theme of poverty. Frank and his family do not have enough money for food. The money that they did have the parents spent on cigarettes and alcohol. The family sleeps on the floor, they finally got one mattress that the whole family could share. It ended up having fleas on it though. Both books are very similar with these reoccurring themes.

Blog Post Week 5 Jebediah Pritchard

Angela's Ashes is a departure of sorts from Dubliners. The style of Dubliners is harder to grasp, to gain a firm hold upon. Angela's Ashes , it seems to be an easier read. Well for some people. The short length of the stories in Dubliners, while themselves multi layered, were more towards my liking. Angela's Ashes is descriptive and well written, though the length is a source of contention for me, personally. Angela's Ashes is hard and sad and rough hwuen. Not that Dubliners was not , just the two books approach me with a different gesture.

There is a scene where the father wakes the boy up and says we will pay them a nickel for everyone who promises to die for Ireland. This is a distributing scene. Malachy senior then sings a song, about Canada. A land that England had gained through conquest as a colony. Ireland, was wholly part of the Crown at that time, though the troops deployed to fight in the New World , especially in Canada were mostly British, especially English. Malachy is singing and praising a new land, Canada and relating to his own, though it is not Ireland's land ,nor was it ever. Canada was always British and the analogy he uses with Canada for his sons to die for Ireland is wrought in folly. As in so common throughout this book and similar Irish propaganda, is to say they hate England, while seeking after the fruits of English labour.

Blog-Week 5

This week we started to read the book, “Angela’s Ashes”, and I have to admit this book is much better than “The Dubliners”. Although “The Dubliners” had a lot of valuable information, it just wasn’t my type of reading. These books have common themes involving Ireland, for instance; alcoholism is a major factor in both books, as well as characters acting in the same manner. Upon reading “Angela’s Ashes”, I feel that poverty is a major factor all over the world. This family in particular is in a very bad situation, and they literally have no money. I feel that Malachy, the father, is useless. He isn’t working, but when he does get a job he uses the majority of his money at the ‘pub’, or doesn’t show up to work, and gets fired. The mother, Angela, doesn’t care for her children properly, and as they continue to have children she gets more and more tired. Even though this family is in a bad circumstance, I still feel the parents could do more for their children. Frank, the oldest child of the family, seems to care for his brothers more than their own mother. As the story continues, they move back to Ireland, because they couldn’t stay where their beloved daughter died. The story goes downhill from here, and their twin boys, Oliver and Eugene die as well. This story is very depressing, but it has made me more appreciative for what I have.
-Ashley B