Angelas Ashes Summary Essay Example

Angelas Ashes Summary Essay Example Angelas Ashes Summary Essay Angelas Ashes Summary Essay Essay Topic: Bad Boy a Memoir Treasure Island Angela’s Ashes 9-4-12 5 hour 1. â€Å"You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace† (208). This quote was chosen because it had the most significance to the memoir out of all. The quote means even though you are poor and that you don’t have all the nicest things in life, you can make anything you want and have the greatest things in your mind with imagination. Life doesn’t have to be hard if you think positively about yourself. You can make anything of yourself and become anything you want to be. This quote had great significance to the novel because the McCourts were very poor and struggled in life, but Frank overcame it by thinking with his mind and overcoming challenges that he faced during his struggle. 2. â€Å"It’s lovely to know the world can’t interfere with the inside of your head† (202). This quote was chosen because Frank McCourt lived by it. Towards the end of the novel Frank McCourt wanted to quit school and just work like his father. Frank also wanted to go to America and start a new life of his own. Frank didn’t care what others thought about how he ran his life after he got a job, so he worked up to his goal, and became a successful young man. Frank didn’t allow others to take advantage of him and he stuck to his goal, and later succeeded. This quote shaped Frank McCourt as the main character and showed the readers of his book what he was like as a child. 3. â€Å"It’s hard to sleep when you know the next day you’re fourteen and starting your first job as a man† (309). I selected this quote because it was a positive turn of events in the memoir for the McCourts. It was also a dream come true for young Frank, taking a step into his adulthood. This was the time Frank took on the father role of his family, when the actual father was in London. It was the first stage in Frank’s life dream, of returning to America. It has much significance to the novel because when the family was on its last leg because of no money coming from London, young Frank put them back on their feet by bringing in food and money. Overall Frank kept the family surviving and also kept them together. 4. â€Å"I stagger to a chair and she says, Just like your father. I try to control the way my tongue moves in my mouth. I’d rather be, I’d rather, rather be like my father then Laman Griffin. She turns away from me and looks into the ashes in the range but I won’t leave her alone because I had my pint, two pints, and I’m sixteen tomorrow, a man† (340). I chose this quote out of the book because I saw Frank becoming a reflection of his unsupportive father. Frank at this point thinks he’s an adult when he’s really not and starts to drink like his father. Angela his mother knows by experience that this is bad news because all they do is drink the money away. Angela and Frank get into an argument where in the end Frank hits his mother which changes their relationship for the rest of the book. In a way this event helped Frank achieve his goal of going to America because he moved out and didn’t have to give money for the rest of the family. This shows the maturing of Frank becoming an adult in the memoir. 5. â€Å"The master says its a glorious thing to die for the Faith and Dad says its a glorious thing to die for Ireland and I wonder if theres anyone in the world who would like us to live. My brothers are dead and my sister is dead and I wonder if they died for Ireland or the Faith. Dad says they were too young to die for anything. Mam says it was disease and starvation and him never having a job. Dad says, Och, Angela, puts on his cap and goes for a long walk† (113). This quote gave explanation to Frank, in which he started to understand his parent’s conflictions. Frank began to understand that his mother blamed the death of her younger children on their father for drinking the money for food away. In the fathers defense he just goes for long walks to avoid the conflict. As a young boy, Frank is confused who his younger siblings died for, the faith or Ireland. 6. â€Å"I know when Dad does the bad thing. I know when he drinks the dole money and Mam is desperate and has to beg at the St. Vincent de Paul Society and ask for credit at Kathleen O’Connell’s shop but I dont want to back away from him and run to Mam. How can I do that when Im up with him early every morning with the whole world asleep? †(208). This quote demonstrates Frank’s love towards each of his parents even though he knows the troubles they are all having. Frank realizes his dad drinks away all their money leaving them with no food or heat. He knows that his mom has the right thinking over his dad, but Frank still loves his father so he doesn’t want to abandon him and always be with Angela. He wants to spend time with his dad without people and his family watching him do it. Frank understands that people realize what his father does wrong, but Frank still loves him and doesn’t want to let him go. 7. Im on deck the dawn we sail into New York. Im sure Im in a film, that it will end and lights will come up in the Lyric Cinema. The priest wants to point out things but he doesn’t have to. I can pick out the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Brooklyn Bridge. There are thousands of cars speeding along the roads and the sun turns everything to gold. Rich Americans in top hats white ties and tails must be going home to bed with the gorgeous women with white teeth. The rest are going to work in warm comfortable offices and no one has a care in the world† (359). I chose this quote because it shows that Frank McCourt eventually achieves his life -long dream of returning back to America. Since he has lived in America before, it’s like returning back home for him. He recognizes New York City because that’s where he was born and raised for a while. Frank is excited because he realizes he took on a challenge, succeeded, and is now onto a new fresh start on creating a life of his own. At this point of the story he realizes he got out of his trap in life (Limerick) and escaped into freedom (America). Frank Understands that he will become one of the rich people and work in warm office. 8. â€Å"You have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind about history and everything else but you can’t make up an empty mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. It is your house of treasure and no one in the world can interfere with it† (208). This quote explains why the school system is important for young children because life depends on how well you did in school and how much you learned. You have to learn a lot so you can stock your brain up with facts and make a good life history out of yourself. Your history in life depends on you and your brain, and if you don’t go to school and learn, then you won’t live a very nice life. Overall it got Frank to go to school, to then get him a job, and finally get him to America. 9. â€Å"There’s no use saying anything in the schoolyard because there’s always someone with an answer and there’s nothing you can do but punch them in the nose and if you were to punch everyone who has an answer you’d be punching morning noon and night† (157). Frank McCourt is thinking this when he gets made fun of for getting a treat from his friend. He is ashamed but he knows that if he retaliates they will just come up with another insult. This really means that retaliations just start an even bigger argument of fight, so it’s better just not to say anything, and walk away. If everyone were to talk back to each other after every insult, then the fights would never end and you would always be â€Å"punching morning noon and night†. This taught Frank to solve his problems in a mature manner instead of starting an even bigger problem compared to the original situation. 10. I feel sorry for them and I say, Billy, what’s the use in playing croquet when you’re doomed? He says, Frankie, what’s the use of not playing croquet when you’re doomed? † (173). This quote is used to say that if you did something wrong and you know you’re going to get punished you may as well have some fun before ge tting punished. It says that you should not hold back from having harmless fun even though you did something wrong earlier that you might get punished for. Frank says this so he can try to understand why there having fun when they are doomed, while Billy knows they are not really doomed, they just have different beliefs.

How to Increase Your Happiness by Giving Gifts

How to Increase Your Happiness by Giving Gifts I saw a post on Facebook this week from a mom who is advocating that all families get inexpensive gifts for their children so that kids with less aren’t â€Å"heartbroken.† I’m no social economist, but I’m pretty sure if this mom got her way, it would not be good for the global economy. And, while I’m also not a huge fan of conspicuous consumption and I’d like to see everyone getting meaningful gifts for their children, something struck me as â€Å"off† about trying to protect poor children from the pain of seeing other children get big fancy gifts. Isn’t it more important that we all appreciate the value of the gifts we are given? And that we put care into the gifts we give? Studies have shown that giving gifts is a source of happiness even more than receiving them. As reported by Harvard-trained researcher Shawn Achor in his Success Magazine article, â€Å"How (And Why) To Give The Perfect Gift,† â€Å"people who are constantly giving to their families and friends are significantly happier than those who are not.† Regardless of the gift, says Achor, it’s the thoughtfulness that counts- not only for the receiver, but for the giver too. Increasing the anticipation and time put into gift choice and, when applicable, gift creation, gives more joy to the person giving! Even if the recipient doesn’t appreciate the gift as much as the giver desired, the giver has had weeks or months of joy leading up the moment of giving. That’s worth a lot. Choosing the Right Gift I’m in a leadership group where we throw birthday parties for every member of the group and purchase gifts for the birthday boy or girl. The process of choosing a gift is always enlightening. We want it to be something they’ll enjoy, that they wouldn’t get for themselves, and that they won’t throw in the corner and never use. We prefer not to default to Amazon gift cards since we want to show that thought was put into the gift- even if the person has been in our group for only a week! To jump start the process, we get a list from the recipient of things they would want, and we collaborate from there. Gifts have included energy healing sessions, movie popcorn machines, shirts and ties, cologne, and tickets to Disney World. Without fail, the gifts we give hit the mark and we all get to watch birthday person’s excitement when they discover what we’ve given them. When we know people well, it’s usually easy to choose a gift that will light them up, whether that’s something we make by hand, a computer-generated photo album, or an expensive electronic gadget (drone anyone?) I recently discovered the â€Å"subscription-box† option where you can give someone a monthly box of something they will love! In particular, BetterBox seems like a thoughtful choice: a service which delivers monthly boxes with themes like gratitude, creativity, better sleep, and paying it forward. What a great gift for someone who can use incentive for self-care or slowing down! If are close to someone, you’ll probably be able to find the perfect box subscription for them- and it will last all year! Creating Satisfaction There are all kinds of ways to make gift-giving satisfying and joy-inducing for everyone involved. Choosing a charity to give money too has become another popular, and fulfilling, option. One thing’s for sure: Throwing money at a last-minute gift won’t produce a lot of joy- while regardless of cost, a thoughtful gift will bring light to both the giver’s and the recipient’s lives. To the mom on Facebook, I say this: Instead of trying to limit the types of gifts other people give to their kids, how about starting a campaign for all of us to be thoughtful about our gifts, and to value thoughtfulness over price tag, no matter what our budget? Now that would be a cause I could support with gusto.