“Through our sunless lanes creeps Poverty with her hungry eyes and Sin with his sodden face follows close behind her. Misery wakes us in the morning and Shame sits with us as night.” Oscar Wilde
This quote from Oscar Wilde relates extremely well to Angela’s Ashes because poverty, sin, and misery are more than just a state of being or an emotion for the McCourts. Wilde represents the same sentiment in the quote above by personifying poverty, sin, and misery. Wilde also says that poverty, sin, and misery are connected, and they are for the McCourts as well.
The McCourts always fall back into the clutches of Poverty, and being in a state of poverty affects so many parts of their lives. For example: they have to live in a rat and flea-infested home that floods and connects to a lavatory for an entire street, The children become sick and die, and their family dislikes them. The problems that affect the McCourts mount and lead to other problems because money affects so much in the world. It is appropriate that Wilde personifies poverty because poverty touches so many aspects of life; like a person is more than just their appearance.
Wilde writes, “Poverty with her hungry eyes and Sin with his sodden face follows close behind her,” indicating that the two are connected. The same is true for the McCourts; such as when Frank steals lemonade and a box of food.
“There’s a van pulling away from South’s pub leaving crates of beer and lemonade outside and there isn’t a soul on the street. In a second I have two bottles of lemonade up under my jersey and I saunter away trying to look innocent” (McCourt 236).
Frank knows that stealing the lemonade is wrong, but he is so desperate to feed his family. Frank feels extra pressure to help because he is the oldest and his father is not home. While it is wrong to steal, he is not able to see any other way because he does not have any money. Not only does the poverty affect the physical things in the lives of the McCourts, but it affects the mental aspects of life. Sin followed Poverty close behind.
The line in Wilde’s quotation, “Misery wakes us in the morning and Shame sits with us at night,” makes the poverty situation described in the quote come full-circle. Once again, misery and shame are personified showing that they can have many different layers and levels. The actions of Misery and Shame show that the emotions stay with the people every day; life is a constant struggle for the McCourts. For example, Frank explains his family’s shame when they do not have food while Mr. McCourt is in England:
“At times like this Mam tells us to stay inside. We have noting but bread and tea and she doesn’t want the tormenting neighbors to see us with our tongues hanging out, suffering over the lovely smells floating up and down the lane,” (218).
This quote shows that the McCourts are desperate, but they do not want to be seen in that state in order to protect what dignity they have left. The McCourts wake up every morning to little, if anything, to eat, their horrible apartment, and the problems of life. The problems do not go away in the course of the day; the problems are waiting every night as well.
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3 comments:
I agree with you that the McCourt family was greeted in the dark hands of poverty and sin.Even the young children had to commit sin so that they could survive.I like how you broke up the quote in sections so that the reader could interpret the paralell to its complexity. By breaking it up, the reader can closely and in depth analyze the similarities produced by both memoir and quote. I thought that was a very creative approach. Good Job! Kabunky
I was thinking of using this quote for my blog originally, but you brought up a lot of the points I had in mind. You related the quote to a very important theme in the book of shame due to poverty. Even though it is not the children's fault that they are poor, they still have to face the shame and ridicule of the other families who have more than they do. However, what I didn't think about at first was what you mentioned about poverty on a larger scale in the third paragraph... with what you said about money affecting so much in the world. This is really true and it really makes it difficult for poverty not to affect every aspect of one's life. At first I just thought of the McCourts' poverty in terms of their status in Limerick, and thinking about it on a world level makes it seem even more severe. Overall, this was a really well put together post. Great job
You write: "This quote shows that the McCourts are desperate, but they do not want to be seen in that state in order to protect what dignity they have left."
Which was written first, Wilde's quote or McCourt's memoir? How can the quote demonstrate that the McCourts are desperate if it is written prior to McCourt's memoir? Perhaps the McCourts' situation prove Wilde's statement? What do you think?
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