How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
We wait across the street. Mam lets me sit on the sidewalk with my back against the wall. She gives the twins their bottles of water and sugar but Malachy and I have to wait till she gets money from Dad and we can go to the Italian for tea and bread and eggs. (1.124)
This passage is one of our first tastes of the effects of poverty (we doubt sugar water is very high in vitamins and nutrients) in Angela's Ashes. Sadly, this is only the beginning of a long struggle against poverty.
Quote #2
Bed, Dan! What am I to do in bed? Her little face is there day and night, her curly black hair and her lovely blue eyes. Oh, Jesus, Dan, what will I do? Was it the hunger that killed her, Dan? (1.258)
Baby Margaret's death was likely a result of the living conditions caused by her family's impoverished circumstances. Same with the twins, who died probably because of malnourishment, unsanitary living conditions, and lack of access to medical care. Children are more seriously affected by lack of nutrition than adults. UNICEF estimates that over 20,000 children die each day because of extreme poverty.
Quote #3
Mam says she'd like to have a nice Christmas dinner but what can you do when the Labour Exchange reduces the dole to sixteen shillings after Oliver and Eugene died? You pay the rent of six shillings, you have ten shillings left, and what use is that to four people? (3.19)
Ten shillings is the equivalent of a few dollars in today's money. Can you support a family of five for a week on that? Other residents in Limerick resent people on the dole, but it's not like they're living in luxury; it barely covers their basic needs. This passage is a great example of McCourt showing Frank watching his mother speak without really understanding what she's saying. He knows she's upset, but he's obviously too young to appreciate the value of ten shillings or whether you can support a family on it. He's just paying attention.
Quote #4
Is there anyone in this class that comes from a rich family with money galore to spend on shoes?
There are no hands.
He says, There are boys here who have to mend their shoes whatever way they can. There are boys in this class with no shoes at all. It's not their fault and it's no shame. Our Lord had no shoes. He died shoeless. Do you see him hanging on the cross sporting shoes? Do you boys? (3.106-108)
Frank's classmates make fun of him because of the crazy patch-job his father did on his shoes. Here's a rare instance of someone actually showing compassion for the poor kids. The teacher threatens to thrash anyone who jeers at Frank or Malachy because of their clothes. It works—the boys stop teasing them. Maybe bringing up the religious angle helped the teacher make his point stick.
Quote #5
Paddy Clohessy has no shoe to his foot, his mother shaves his head to keep the lice away, his eyes are red, his nose is always snotty. The sores on his kneecaps never heal because he picks at the scabs and puts them in his mouth. His clothes are rags he has to share with his six brothers and a sister and when he comes to school with a bloody nose or a black eye you know he had a fight over the clothes that morning. (4.51)
Frankie knows there are some people even worse off than his family, as hard as that is to believe. Paddy's a prime example of what's it like to be dirt poor. This passage is a good illustration of McCourt showing in high-def the effects of poverty. His descriptions are so stark, in fact, that some of McCourts' neighbors and acquaintances were angry about the depiction of the Limerick slums. (Source)
Quote #6
You never know when you might come home and find Mam sitting by the fire with a woman and child, strangers. Always a woman and child. Mam finds them wandering the streets and if they ask, Can you spare a few pennies, miss? Her heart breaks. She never has money so she invites them home for tea and a bit of fried bread and if it's a bad night she'll let them sleep by the fire in a pile of rags in the corner. The bread she gives them always means less for us and if we complain she says there are always people worse off and we can surely spare a little from what we have. (5.5)
This reminds Shmoop of the ending of The Grapes of Wrath: the almost destitute helping the totally destitute. Only the desperately poor truly appreciate the experience of desperate poverty. Frankie gets an important lesson in charity. His brother Mikey's as soft-hearted as Mam, and he brings home stray animals and sick old men. McCourt's emphasis on "always a woman and child" suggests that there are plenty of families with an alcoholic or deserting husband, and Angela can sure relate to that.
Quote #7
It's raining again and small children are playing in the hallway and up the stairs. Paddy says, Mind yourself, because some of the steps are missing and there is s*** on the ones that are still there. He says that's because there's only one privy and it's in the backyard and children don't get down the stairs in time to put their little arses on the bowl, God help us. (6.141)
Notice how McCourt structures this passage to show how Paddy is matter-of-fact about the feces-filled house. He doesn't seem bothered by it. It's all he's known his whole life, so he's just learned to deal with it. It illustrates the sad fact that poverty can destroy any expectations from life and make the worst squalor seem normal.
Quote #8
Seamus likes me to tell him what I'm reading. He says that story about Mr. Ernest Bliss is a made-up story because no one in his right mind would have to go to a doctor over having too much money and not eating his egg though you never know. It might be like that in England. You'd never find the likes of that in Ireland. If you didn't eat your egg here you'd be carted off to the lunatic asylum or reported to the bishop. (8.115)
Through this comic vignette, McCourt lays out the huge gap between the desperately poor and the people who don't know hunger. Even Seamus, a grownup, can't imagine a world where someone would refuse to eat, especially an egg.
Quote #9
Mam comes back up to Italy and sits by the fire wondering where in God's name she'll get the money for a week's rent never mind the arrears. She'd love a cup of tea but there's no way of boiling the water till Malachy pulls loose a board off the wall between the two upstairs rooms. Mam says, Well, 'tis off now and we might as well chop it up for the fire. We boil the water and use the rest of the wood for the morning tea but what about tonight and tomorrow and ever after? Mam says, One more board from that wall, one more and not another one. She says that for two weeks till there's nothing left but the beam frame. (12.76)
This passage shows the lengths the McCourts have to go to just to keep warm. This eventually gets them evicted. We can't say we don't understand why the landlord is doing it, but it shows how the effect of poverty builds on itself. You can't afford to maintain your place so you get kicked out so you're homeless and even hungrier—a vicious cycle. The words "tonight and tomorrow and ever after" show the relentlessness of the family's trouble and the worry this causes a young boy who doesn't know what to do about it.
Quote #10
There they are, the priests and the nuns telling us Jesus was poor and 'tis no shame, lorries driving up to their houses with crates and barrels of whisky and wine, eggs galore and legs of ham and they telling us what we should give up for Lent. Lent, my arse. What are we to give up when we have Lent all year long? (15.62)
Mrs. Spillane hits the nail on the head when she describes the hypocrisy of the Church. It's easy to tell people not to eat when you're able to eat whatever you like, whenever you like.