Angles Ashes
...as, they changed and washed their clothes once every month, and they sometimes had to go through trash cans to look for food. The People of Limmerick, Ireland, where the family mainly resides, have many strong prejudices against the poor. The family is constantly tormented because of shabby clothes or poor housing and having to ask charities for help. The store managers try to cheat the poor out of the full amount of food they are to be given. This would a prefect place for them to voice there opinion not being satisfy with the service. Hirschman said “the voice option is the only way in which dissatisfied customers or members can react when ever the exit option is unavailable” (Hirschman, pg33). The family voicing there view might of got them something or maybe naught but they never tried to find out. Out of fear of losing what ever was given to them they choose not to say anything. You are still being loyal even if you voice your oppion. You are just dissatisfied with the service you are receiving. If you have no other alternative the best thing to do is voice your troubles. Angela always said beggars can’t be choosers. Angles husband did not make things any easier for the family unit. Angle’s spouse Malachy McCourt, the father, has a drinking problem. Therefore, he spends every Friday salary on alcohol. The wife and children go hungry, and without adequate clothing because of the father. However they cannot stop him. “She says, Some day we’ll all go back to America and we’ll have a nice warm place to live and a lavatory down the hall like the one in Classon Avenue and not this filthy thing outside our door.”(Mc Court, pg110) “Mam says there’s no use waiting up any longer. If Dad stays in the pubs till closing time there will be nothing left from his wages and we might as well go to bed”.(Mc Court,pg110) They would go to bed hungry only to be woken up at night by their drunken father. Mc Court would come home drunk and constantly make Frank and his brother Malachy swear their lives for Ireland and singing Roddy McCorley and Kevin Barry after a night at the pub. Their father will inform them stories about old Irish folklore and get sacked from job after job. He was very loyal to his country. We can see loyalty plays a gigantic role in this situation even though Ireland was not being as accommodating as they might have thought. He still educated his sons to fight for Ireland and even die for this country. Even thought Ireland did not offer them opportunity’s or a chance at a better life. Just a lot of tough time and discrimination. This would be classified as loyalty to ones country. Hirschman said “a member with a considerable attachment to a product or organization will offer search for ways to make himself influential, especially when the organization moves in what he believes is the wrong direction” (Hirschman, pg77-78) This is accurately what franks father is doing influencing his sons to believe and fight for Ireland even though the country was not doing much for them. They should stick with Ireland even if it’s terrible or superior. He was using his influence to make his sons become loyal to his native land Ireland. They should for eternity stand by Ireland. The Mc Court’s tried to make there sons into better individuals. As they continued to live in Ireland them also The McCourt’s discover little hospitality in their extended family or the people of Limmerick, Ireland during the depression. Also, the religious of Limmerick discriminate against poor children as in the case when Frank McCourt tries to become an alter boy but is denied. Mrs. McCourt explains why he is denied by saying " They don’t want boys from lanes on the alter. Oh, no they want the nice boys with hair oil and new shoes that have fathers with suits and ties and steady jobs"(149). The McCourt family is constantly aware of the discrimination it faces because of the poverty they live in. Even in theses tough period they still did not leave. In this situation we have to disagree with Hirschman argument was saying how if you are dissatisfy with the state the best selection to make is to exit. But the family still stayed in Ireland to live in poverty. Well not so much the family they had no other options. Even in times of difficult the best decision to take is to leave but its not as straight forward as Hirschman may claim. There are numerous other factors that have to play out before they could depart Ireland. Where would they go? The father had no money and no abilities or skill to go anywhere else. If they did travel would the father give up drinking and provide for his family that depend on him. Would exit matter no matter where they went they would still face the similar misery as they did in Ireland. I would have to disagree with Hirschman that if the McCourt’s did leave they would still have the identical problems they did in Ireland. There condition would not improve because of the father. Exit with the father would not have helped them out at all. Why is it that franks father still so proud of a place that will not assist his family in times of a necessitate? He was being faithful to his country that’s why he could not exit or was it just that he felt he had an obligation to Ireland. Hirschman has believed that being loyal meant sticking by the product but no matter what you would stand by your product thorough thick and think, that’s what franks father was doing. No matter how hard things get he will still stay in Ireland. That’s the message he was sending to his children that great Ireland must be always respected and honoured no matter what the case maybe. One day Angela was complaining about how our family is getting no where and everyone else was doing so much better and the had all the necessities and even more. She had asked him many times to leave to England and help with the war so they could some how have a high-quality life or even a little bit better. Mc Court had finally agreed to go to England to work. He was making an exit finally after being disastfyed with the Ireland or was he going for hi...