Free Essays - Angela’s Ashes :: Ashes

Angelas Ashes In Frank McCourts memoir Angelas Ashes, the connection between tone, syntax, and point of discern combine to create an effective balance of humor and pathos. This is shown through the perspective of little Frank McCourt. Sometimes it is human nature to try to pay a tragedy seem better than it is in order to go on with our lives. Franks struggle to make his situation as a poor, Catholic, Irish boy more endurable, is demonstrated through the positive tone, powerful syntax and childlike point of view. Humor and pathos come together when Frank steals bananas from the Italian, notwithstanding later the same Italian gives him a bag of fruit. Frank knows that he cant buy the bananas and he knows also the Italian wont give them away seen when Frank says Italians are not known for giving away bananas (p.35). We can see the humor in the theft as the match slobber and chew and spread bananas over their faces, their hair, their clothes (p.36). The tragedy is that the McCourt kids are poor and have to resort to begging and stealing to survive. When the author uses such language such as slobber (p.36), little buddas (p.36), he is trying to make an intolerable situation more bearable and enjoyable to the reader. When the McCourts are at their bleak home, two weeks before Christmas, the children come home and find the whole downstairs flooded. They decide that they will stay up stairs, which they call Italy (p.118), and the downstairs Ireland (p.118). The humor in this tragedy is the house is so run down that water leaks in and floods the bottom. Instead of suffering and complaining about the house they move upstairs and make the best out of it and try to live normally. The reader should find this funny from the way the family talks about it, they try to make the situation more bearable by adding a sense of humor. They leave the Pope (p.118) downstairs because Angela doesnt want him on the wall glaring at me in the bed (p.118). The syntax used is to mak e the reader feel pity for the family when the whole downstairs is flooded but also the author wants to make the reader laugh when the family decides to alleviate the situation by creating an adventurous illusion. One of the funnier moments is the scene where Frank pukes up the host and his Grandmother says she has God in her backyard (p.