Las cenizas de Ángela de Frank McCourt: un estudio de novela

In this seven week course, students will read Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" which follows McCourt's memoir when moving from New York City to Limerick, Ireland. He was born during the Depression Era in Brooklyn to a father who rarely works and who drinks away the money he makes. The memoir is told in stories and anecdotes from infancy through childhood where McCourt tackles tough topics such as poverty and sickness. Students will participate in discussions while completing quote analysis activities and a dialectical journal.

Week One:
     - Introduction and background information
     - Setting up our dialectical journal
     - Discussion about quotes and picking good ones
     - Quote Analysis Activity as an Introduction to the Novel
     - Determine Focus of Dialectical Journal Entries
Week Two:
     - Read Chapters I - II
          - The Role of Parents to Protect Their Children
          - What role does poverty play in the development of children?
          - How are stories integral to familial relationships?
Week Three:
     - Read Chapters III - V
          - Symbolism within the Story
Week Four:
     - Read Chapters VI - VIII
          - How do traditions develop and how do they help children mature?
          - Symbolism and Quote Analysis
Week Five:
     - Read Chapters IX - X
          - When do children become adults?
          - Symbolism and Quote Analysis
Week Six:
     - Read Chapters XI - XIII 
          - Who has played the strongest role in Frank's life?
          - Why is the novel called Angela's Ashes?
Week Seven:
     - Read Chapters XIV - XIX
          - How do children survive the stresses of growing up?
          - At what moment does Frank grow up?
          - Symbolism and Quote Analysis

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.” - Frank McCourt
     McCourt, Frank. Angela's Ashes. 20 Anniversaryth ed., New York, Scribner, 1996, p. 11.