Rising From The Ashes

Irish American writer Frank McCourt’s first memoir Angela’s Ashes is a vividrecollection of his astonishingly poverty-stricken childhood and an accurate portrayalof the social reality of Ireland during the Great Depression. As an instant success, thebook has won the hearts of readers and the praise of critics since its publication, andmost notably, it won the1997Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.In the light of Jung’s theory of individuation, this thesis aims to analyze thepsychological growth of the protagonist Frank and reveal the reason why he insists ongoing back to America. Proceeding from a textual analysis, this thesis discusses theprocess of Frank’s individuation, which consists of four stages represented respectivelyby four archetypes, namely the persona, the shadow, the anima and finally the self.Having been painstakingly wrestling with the preceding three stages, Frank’sunconscious is still incapacitated for the final symbolic form of the self, due to hisepiphany that social reality of Ireland in the1930s denies him the possibility to searchfor his true self. The thesis further concludes that Frank chooses to return to America;not as an escape, but to complete the process of his individuation and to realize hispreviously suspended American Dream. This is why Frank, like a phoenix that obtainsnew life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor, persistently strives against all oddsin pursuit of his dream, ascending from the disillusionment of the older generation of Irish immigrants.