Angela's Ashes Exam Questions and Answers
1. How does Frank provide for his family while Angela is sick in bed? Are his actions justified? - Answer-Frank steals lemonade and bread from vans and a box of food from someone's front steps. Frank and his brothers also go door to door asking for coal, ...
1. How does Frank provide for his family while Angela is sick in bed? Are his actions
justified? - Answer-Frank steals lemonade and bread from vans and a box of food from
someone's front steps. Frank and his brothers also go door to door asking for coal, and
then they steal coal while Michael distracts people. Answers will vary. These actions are
criminal, and while he could have asked other family members for help, Frank is only a
child and does what he thinks is best to provide food and heat for his family so they will
not starve.
2. Who discovers that Angela is ill, and where are the children sent? - Answer-Guard
Dennehy; The children stay with Aunt Aggie and Uncle Pa Keating for a short period
until Angela gets better.
3. Why does Frank think he has no chance to become a Jesuit priest? - Answer-Frank
believes that no one who grows up in a lane can become a Jesuit because "Jesuits are
very particular" and "don't like poor people" (p. 245).
4. What does Frank believe Aunt Aggie lacks? - Answer-"grand times" like he and his
brothers have
5. Whom does Frank see begging in the crowd? Why does he feel ashamed? - Answer-
His mother; Frank thinks begging is "the worst kind of shame" (p. 250), and he is
worried his friends will make fun of his family for their poverty.
6. Who are The Red Hearts of Limerick? How do they signify this? - Answer-Frank's
soccer team, which is made up of his friends and brother; Frank makes them red hearts
to pin on their shirts.
7. Why does Frank enjoy working with Mr. Hannon, and why must he stop? - Answer-
Frank enjoys Mr. Hannon's company, makes good wages helping him, and has a sense
of pride as he drives the horse-drawn float down the streets of Limerick, especially
when he passes his schoolmates. Frank is forced to stop working with Mr. Hannon
because the coal dust makes his eye infection worse each day, and when Mr. Hannon
must quit the job altogether, Frank has no choice but to quit as well.
8. What does Mr. Hannon say about rich people? - Answer-That they are very slow to
put their hands in their pockets to give a tip for a job done
9. How do the McCourt brothers act when their father returns for Christmas? - Answer-
The boys are upset with him and begin chanting, "You drank the money, Dad" (p. 270).
, 10. What is the rent man upset about when he checks in on the McCourts' house? What
does he do? - Answer-He becomes angry and incredulous when he discovers that the
family has been burning the posts and wood of the walls, leaving one wall entirely gone.
He then evicts the McCourts from the house.
11. Why does Angela feel like "her family is disappearing before her very eyes" (p.
283)? - Answer-Angela feels her family is disappearing because her husband is gone,
three of her children have died, her mother is dead, and her brother and his wife die of
consumption. Then Malachy goes to Dublin to join the Army School of Music, and there
are only three McCourt boys left.
1.How does Frank McCourt initially describe his childhood? - Answer-As "miserable"
and worse than an ordinary childhood because it was an "Irish Catholic childhood"
stricken with poverty, an alcoholic father, the terrible English, and a defeated mother.
2. Why do Delia and Philomena visit Malachy in the speakeasy? - Answer-To persuade
him (through force) to marry their cousin Angela
3. What is Malachy's escape plan, and how does it fail? - Answer-Malachy plans to
escape his marriage to Angela by running away to California, but he drinks all of his
escape money and finally relents.
What is Frank's "story," and why can nobody else take ownership? - Answer-The story
of Cuchulain is Frank's because his father told him the story first, and Frank becomes
upset if others try to tell it.
5. How is life for the McCourts when Malachy brings home his wages? How do things
change when he doesn't? - Answer-The family is very happy when Malachy brings
home his wages. They have food to eat, and Angela sings happy songs of love. When
Malachy doesn't bring his wages home, everything changes. There is little food to eat,
and Angela worries about how to make ends meet. Malachy comes home drunk and
makes the boys get out of bed during the night. There are far more arguments as well,
and nobody is happy.
6. Who helps the McCourt family get by in their time of need? What do they do? -
Answer-Minnie MacAdorey, Mrs. Leibowitz and some of the local shop owners, like the
Italian grocerwho gives Frank the bag of fruit; They feed and look after the McCourt
children. They also try to help Angela overcome her depression.
7. What does Malachy do after Margaret dies? - Answer-He leaves to get cigarettes but
really runs to the bars for two days and gets thrown out of each one. However, the
police don't throw him in jail because of the baby.
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