Angela's Ashes is a gripping memoir by Frank McCourt, a book that details his early childhood in Brooklyn, New York. However, it tends to focus more on his life in Limerick, Ireland, through various anecdotes regarding the author's young life. McCourt presents the novel as a sort of coming-of-age story during his childhood. As McCourt himself says: “When I think back to my childhood I wonder how I survived. Of course it was an unhappy childhood. . . . Worse than the miserable ordinary childhood is the miserable Irish childhood and worse still is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood” (McCourt 11). In Angela's Ashes, the Catholic Church plays an important role for Frank by influencing his actions, fears, and way of life. As becomes clear from the reader's perspective, Frank's actions were heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay As a young man (before communion), Frankie found his influences to be within what he was taught, particularly through confirmation. As ready as he might have been, he had last-minute jitters before and after communion. As mentioned in Duffy's article on Frank McCourt and religiosity, "That book's hilarious and irreverent chapter on Mr. McCourt's preparation for and eventual ill-fated reception of his First Communion establishes throughout the story what it was like to sit before an old Irish “master,” called Mr. Benson in this case, and you have very pre-Vatican II lessons hammered (literally) into your pre-teen brain” (Duffy 1). the separation of church and state had been written into the constitution. For Ireland's longtime inhabitants, the idea that Catholicism was not compulsory shocked them. “There is a picture on the wall next to him of a man with long brown hair and sad eyes. He points to his chest where there is a big heart with flames coming out of it. Mom, tell us: that is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and I want to know why this man's heart is on fire and why not. do you throw water on it? (McCourt 57). This statement surprised the grandmother: “Do these children know nothing about their religion? Her mother tells her that it's different in America. Grandma says the Sacred Heart is everywhere and there is no excuse for this kind of ignorance” (McCourt 57). Religion, as Frank had been taught, seemed authoritarian and rigid, full of “thou shalt nots.” While reading, one gets the impression that the student inside Frank sees traditional religion as demeaning and burdensome. He had been taught in the ways of strict governess-on-the-pulse Catholicism: “You must not ask questions. There are too many people wandering around the world asking questions and that's what gets us to the state we're in and if I find any kid in this class asking questions I won't be responsible for what happens” (McCourt 118). of the church permeated the actions of these children and influenced their fears in daily life. Above all for Frank, he frequented the confessional, to such an extent and for such small infractions and afflictions that his father laughed at him. One of these occasions preceded Frank's thoughts: "every time I pass the cemetery I feel sin growing in me like an abscess and if I don't confess soon I will be nothing more than an abscess riding around on my bicycle with people pointing and telling each other, here it is, Frankie McCourt, the dirty thing that sent Theresa Carmody to hell” (McCourt 329). In his experiences, the most distressing was that with Theresa Carmody (both literally and figuratively) where. 2017.