Angela’s Ashes Comparative Commentary Essay

Although these two passages taken from the memoirs; Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt and Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Sallinger, are similar to each other in some aspects, such as mood, perceptions and attitudes towards death etc., their society, culture, and their ages make the contrast between their styles. In the passage from Catcher in the Rye, we see the 17-years-old Holden going to his brother Allie’s grave. From his comments about his brother’s death, we start to interpret his immature and irreverent character. â€Å"I know it’s only his body and all that’s in the cemetery, and his soul’s in Heaven and all that crap†¦Ã¢â‚¬  On the other hand, just like Frank McCourt’s, Holden’s anger, sadness and resentment is seen by his mood and tone. The 5-years-old little Frankie is already witness to his sister Margaret’s death, and now he losts his little brother Oliver. In this scene, where Oliver is buried in the graveyard, Frankie tries to understand the things around him with his childish curiosity and responses. â€Å"I did not want to leave Oliver with them. I threw a rock at a jackdaw that waddled over toward Oliver’s grave.† Nevertheless, although his age, Holden’s inability to come to terms with his brother’s death makes him angry and resentful. â€Å"All the visitors could get in their cars and turn on their radios and all and then go someplace nice for dinner – everybody except Allie. I couldn’t stand it.† There are some hints in the passages which suggest about the culture, societies and time the two memoirs took place. Holden says â€Å"the visitors could get in their cars and turn on their radios and all and then go someplace nice for dinner†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , whereas Frankie says â€Å"we rode to the hospital in a carriage with a horse† and â€Å"My mother and Aunt Aggie cried, Grandma looked angry, Dad, Uncle Pa Keating, and Uncle Pat Sheehan looked sad but did not cry and I thought that if you’re a mean you can cry only when you have the black stuff that is called the pint.† The â€Å"carriage with a horse† and the people â€Å"running like hell over to their cars† â€Å"and turn on their radios† show us that the scene from Angela’s Ashes took place many years before Catcher in the Rye. Moreover, with Frankie’s childish comment about his family, the men in his family appear as drinkers; this suggests about the Irish culture which all men are drinkers. The same comment also clearly shows us the difference between women and men in their culture. We also see that the two characters’ families and societies are Christian, and believe in the life after death. Holden says â€Å"I know it’s only his body and all that’s in the cemetery, and his soul’s in Heaven and all that crap, but I couldn’t stand it anyway.† On the other hand Frankie explains, â€Å"Dad said I shouldn’t throw rocks at jackdaws, they might be somebody’s soul. I didn’t know what a soul was but I didn’t ask him because I didn’t care.† Their perception towards religion is the same; they both believe in what is taught to them, but in both cases the characters’ sadness and anger are much greater then their religion now, when they lost their brothers whom they love and were connected so much. â€Å"I wish he wasn’t there. You didn’t know him. If you’d known him, you’d know what I mean.† â€Å"Oliver was dead and I hated jackdaws.† Both Frankie and Holden are alone with their thoughts and feelings; they cannot share them with anyone. Holden is too immature and powerless to face his brother’s death and Frankie’s parents wouldn’t answer his question marks about death. The two narrative characters cannot talk about or express their sorrow, they have to keep it inside and divert it into anger and hate of other things or people around them. â€Å"I’d be a man someday and I’d come with a bag of rocks and I’d leave the graveyard littered with dead jackdaws.† â€Å"All the visitors in the cemetery started running like hell over to their cars. That’s what nearly drove me crazy.† Hence the two characters need to heal theirselves by something else; writing.