why is it called angela's ashes?
i just finished reading the book, really good, but why is it called Angela's Ashes?
shareAngela, Frank's Mom dies and is cremated. I read the book a long time ago. There's a sequel too and I think it picks up where the first book ends.
shareBut i just read it and no where did it say that his mom died, unless it was in the beginning somewhere and i wasn't paying attention to what i was reading.
share[deleted]
okay thank you, damn u just ruined the second book for me, jk.
shareActually, if you want your answer in reference to the first novel, and not the sequel, here it is: Angela's "ashes" symbolize her "withering failure" to help her family, to assist them in grasping a better life. Often, McCourt alludes to Angela "staring into the ashes" of the fireplace after Malachy Sr. loses a job, or comes home drunk instead of looking for a job. Also, all she sees everyday is hungry children, half of whom had died already. It goes so much further than "she was cremated." The ashes symbolize not her own death, but the death of everything around her. This novel has ambiguous meanings, and is not concise in the least. Look beneath the surface. The movie on the other hand, is much more difficult to analyze in terms of the title, but that's my two cents on the novel.
shareThanks, tbolton. That makes sense. I'm sure liz_rulez will appreciate it too.
It's been a while since I've read this novel. So, Angela's entire life is so dismal that her life is represented by ashes. How depressing.
Yet, Frank survives this childhood and even with all this tragedy still can see the humor in his surroundings.
Anytime!
sharei will have to spoil the book angelas ashes to explain what i think. if you want to know just PM me or something
shareIt won't ruin anything...its called Angela's ashes, because whenever his mother Angela was depressed (which was always) she smoked. (so she always smoked) and also how she's look into the fire place and the ashes there. It has absolutly nothing to do with her death, thats just sick.
Vern, Chris, Teddy: I don't shut up, I grow up, and when I look at you, I throw up.
"It has absolutly nothing to do with her death, thats just sick."
You don't know that, and no it's not.
I always assumed it was to do with her cremation, but your idea makes sense. Who knows, maybe Frank just likes alliteration
Actually I do know that because I read it in an interview and it wouldn't make sense anyway because she doesn't die in the book.
Vern, Chris, Teddy: I don't shut up, I grow up, and when I look at you, I throw up.
Also she was still alive when both the books were written and was infact at the premiere of the film. Whoever said they read it is clearly a lier.
shareoh you read it in an interview? of course, pardon me all to hell
citation anyone?
I thought this too. The ashes from her cigarettes.
shareI figured her always looking into the fireplace ashes had something to do with it, sort of sumbolising it
sharei remember seeing a show several months ago that aired on (i believe) bravo. frank mccourt was discussing the book and different aspects of his childhood and various passages were read as actors played out the scenes. it also had interviews with mccourt's brothers and it showed them on stage together years ago. if i remember correctly, it even had footage of an elderly angela singing alongside her boys. i cannot remember the name of the program itself but it was very interesting seeing the brothers i had come to know so well from frank's memoirs.
at any rate...
during this interview he discusses the title "angela's ashes." while i cannot remember his quote word for word, he basically said that he did not intend to include angela's death in his second memoir but that the flow of the story sort of veered it that way. he had already come up with the name "angela's ashes" and had intended to end the first memoir with the recounting of spreading her remains along with his brothers.
so, while some of the other theories are very interesting ones, the name does, in fact, refer to her cremated remains.
Yep,Frank survives alright and gets his foot on the ladder of success by robbing his dead employer! Survival of the fittest is rampant in a superstition-ridden,poverty-stricken environment.Surprisingly,the flick has a considerable "feel-good" factor. Lots of laughs from the brilliantly acted, "boys of the town".Like a trip down memory lane for me...
share