The Ashes of Our Sons and Lovers

The Ashes of our Sons and Lovers

When the term natural disaster is brought up in a conversation, it is typically the worst natural disasters that come to one's mind. Some of these might include tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, ect. However, a more common natural disaster that people experience is a hurricane. Hurricanes are categorized by their severity, category one being the lowest and category six being the highest documented (nhc.noaa.gov). During these higher category hurricanes, winds can exceed speeds of seventy five miles per hour or higher, destroying everything it the path of the storm. Yet, there is a time during a hurricane where everything stops and time seems to almost stand still. This occurs during the eye of the storm. Just as everything seems to be over, the eye passes over and back comes the storm, annihilating whatever is left in its path. When the storm is finally over, hardly anything is left. People lose their homes, friends, and even family members. Dealing with the reality of having nothing left and losing family is difficult to comprehend and overcome. After reading Angela's Ashes and Sons and Lovers, one could easily determine that both families faced many conflicts such as poverty, the loss of a loved one, or loved ones, and extremely hard family life, but despite these conflicts they somehow manage to stay together as a family.

Poverty has been an enormous problem all over the world for an extremely long time, and is still a problem that plagues society today. People in large cities are so poor that they are forced to live on the streets begging for money and very little food. Fortunately, things never became that bad for the Morel family in Sons and Lovers. Walter and Gertrude Morel had four children; however, Walter did not make enough money to support four children. Since Gertrude did not have a job, it was very difficult for the Morel family to get by. At one point in the novel, Walter becomes ill and cannot work for a month. This causes several problems and the family suffered from it. Gertrude struggled to find food to provide for the family, but Walter's illness brought him and Gertrude closer together. Poverty also existed in Angela's Ashes. The McCourt family was a bit worse off than the Morel family. Frank and Angela McCourt did not have as many children, but their life was still very difficult. This was due to the fact that Malachy. was an alcoholic. He could barely keep a job and he almost always spent what little money he made at the pub. Since Angela did not have a job, it was difficult to provide for the family. Despite the fact that they are children, they understood the circumstances. It is fascinating to think about how people can survive by living on little to no food every day, but it is also quite sad to think about all of those who do not survive.

People everywhere around the world lose their lives every day due to endless amounts of things, whether it is disease, starvation, or something else. The Morel family knows what it feels like to lose a loved one. Gertrude's oldest son William moved away when he grew up and shortly after moving away, he died. Gertrude almost lost her second oldest son Paul to pneumonia. The McCourt family once again had it worse than the Morel family. One of Angela's twins died, and then shortly after that, the other twin died as well. In addition to that, Angela had a miscarriage and later on, her newborn daughter, Margaret, died