An Irishman goes to America
Tulip Chowdhury probes a story of pathos and humour
'Tis, Frank McCourt, Flamingo
It is not easy for an Irish man like Frank McCourt to settle down in America. Ever since he was a little boy he has dreamed of going to New York, to walk in the big city's busy streets and to live like an American. He is so possessive about his dream that he would not his younger three brothers to have the same dream. " 'Tis my dream and you cannot have it!' he often told them. And then finally when he finally does land on American soil he finds a sea of difference between the life he has dreamed about and the life in reality. In his own words of the American life he writes, "In America a torch is called a flashlight. A biscuit is called a cookie, a bun is a roll. Men wear pants instead of trousers and they'll even say this pant leg is shorter than the other which is silly. When I hear them saying pant leg I feel like breathing faster. The lift is an elevator and if you want a WC or a lavatory you have to say bathroom even if there isn't a sign of a bath anywhere. And no one dies in America, they pass away or they have deceased and when they die the body, which is called remains, is taken to a funeral home where people just stand around and look at it and no one sings or tells a story or takes a drink and then it's taken away in a casket to be interred. They never say coffin and they don't like buried. They never say graveyard. Cemetery sounds fine." Frank is lucky in America and gets a job right off the ship. When he lands in Albany, a priest takes a liking to him and manages to get him a job in a hotel. Frank is to be a cleaning boy in the lobby. And he knows that it's a worthy post for it gives him a chance to see all the important people spend their long hours drinking in the lobby. Seeing some students in the lobby Frank often dreams of having an American degree. Frank has had his early school education in Limerick, Ireland. And when he sees students with their backpacks passing along on the streets he dreams of becoming a student someday and to walk the streets with his own backpack. Frank gets sore eyes from an infection. He goes to the doctor and has to have his hair shaved till his head is like a "white football". His job changes and he has to work in the laundry room for fear of infecting other people. With his new income he is able to rent a single room. He is not allowed to keep the lights on after ten and he is not allowed to bring in any food. Mrs. Austin, his landlady, practically hangs by a window to check on him all the time. On the days when he fails to have his dinner outside, he has to go hungry to bed. He does not break the ground rules for fear of being turned out into the street. Then he wants to watch the movie Hamlet and eat a lemon meringue pie. But then, food is not allowed into the movie hall. And there are hundreds of "Do's and "Don'ts" everywhere he moves. Now he remembers hearing about America being a nation of freedom; "… I wonder about all those films where they're waving the Star and Stripes and placing their hands on their chests and declaring to the world this is the land of the free and home to the brave…" He also discovers that to be an Irish is special in many ways. In a crowded bar he finds that everyone loves to mention the homeland from which they have come and made America their homes. And so Frank sums it up: "It's not enough to be American. You always have to be something else, Irish-American, German-American, and you would wonder how they'd get along if someone hadn't invented the hyphen." War breaks out with Korea and Frank is called in to serve the army. Army life is a new chapter for Frank. Any softness left from Limerick is toughened as he takes up the hard training and gets a certificate with an "Excellent" comment. He makes new friends. There is Di Angelo, who takes Frank to mass every Sunday. According to Frank, "Di Angelo talks about God as if He were in the next room having a pint and smoking a cigarette." The army takes him to Germany and then to Bavaria. He is able to send good money back to his mother. His mother is allowed to move into a corporate house for his service in the army. Getting a two-week leave he goes to Ireland to see his family. But he is disappointed, for no one seems to regard his American uniform any significance. To the people at Limerick he is still Frankie McCourt the scabby-eyed telegram boy with the poor suffering mother. After two years of serving in the army Frank is discharged and he takes the job of unloading trucks in the warehouse. The pay is good. By this time he has a girlfriend, Emer. She wants him to take up an office job because she thinks he has brains. She herself attends a business school and does not want him to be unloading trucks till he is seventy. Frank promises her that he will go to school one of these days. To earn some extra bucks he sometimes unloads ships too. But at the back of his mind he is always dreaming of a school education. And while he works he continues to read James Joyce, Melville and Dostoyevsky. When he travels on the train in his work clothes the other passengers in suits give him superior, arrogant looks. But he wants to tell them that what they see is only temporary. One day he will be carrying fat books and be in suits. One day he takes up enough courage and goes to seek admission at New York University. The dean is impressed with his range of reading. Although he is not a high school graduate, she decides to give him a chance to an under-grad program. He is in heaven. In his words, "The first thing to do is buy the required textbooks, cover them with the purple and white NYU book jackets so that people in the subway will look at me admiringly." Frank has to work to support himself while he goes to university. He tries to be an insurance man but that just doesn't agree with him. He likes to have liverwurst sandwiches and takes to drinking a lot. He girlfriend Emer does not like his eating those liverwurst sandwiches and leaves him. Like any other young man Frank needs a woman but Emer has not been the one for she is saving her body till her wedding. Then Frank meets Dolores. After a dance Dolores allows him to accompany her to the other end of town. However, when they reach her place, she lets him know that her parents live with her. He has to say goodbye to her outside her door. Frank's hopes of having " …a little excitement in bed…." is scattered by the winds. Frank completes his graduation programme at NYU and at last his dream of getting an American degree is realized. He becomes a teacher in a high school. There are many more trials and tribulations for Frank as he settles down in New York. He is able to bring along two of his younger brothers and dreams of the day his mother will join them. And his life in America goes on. Often it is like Pandora's box, releasing troubles for him and then coming up again with hope for better days. 'Tis , a memoir and narrated in the first person, is the saga of an Irish immigrant. It comes with hilarious accounts of his experiences. And yet when the protagonist, in this case Frank, falls into trouble the reader's heart does not fail to sob with him. The blunt honesty of the writer about the truths of life makes the reader pause and gain the insight that only truths can bring. An absolutely stunning tale that takes your breath away with all its twists and turns in the plot! The humour in the story keeps the reader smiling and laughing throughout the reading of the book.
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