Angela's Ashes Character Analysis

In his memoir, Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt, the protagonist and narrator, encounters various conflicts, many of which involve in his Aunt Aggie. Aunt Aggie is Angela’s sister and one of the many antagonists in the story. She is a miserable woman who resents the fact Angela married Malachy, a jobless, alcoholic Northerner, and she takes that resentment out on her American nephews. At one point, Grandma offers the children porridge, but Aunt Aggie feels she is being taken advantage of: “I don’t know why I have to pay for Angela’s mistakes” (72). Aunt Aggie cannot have children of her own, and she is jealous of her “useless” sister’s big family (73). Clearly, Aunt Aggie harbors some jealousy, but her pride takes precedence: “I don’t want nothing of Angela’s. I don’t want nothing that’s half Limerick and half North of Ireland” (73). Here she expresses her resentment towards Angela and Malachy Sr., and her ill feelings toward the entire McCourt family present themselves her behaviors with the children throughout the book. Frank McCourt is the primary target of her scorn because he is like is father with the “odd manner” (247). …show more content…
McCourt describes how Aunt Aggies “torments” and teases him, and it is obvious that her cruelty has an effect on him: “There are days when Aunt Aggie tells us she can’t stand the sight of us another minute, Get away from me”