BOOK REVIEWS

Compare and Contrast paper on the Books Butcher Boy, by P. McCabe and Angela's Ashes by F. McCourt mostly on a Psychological perspective.

Compare and Contrast paper on the Books Butcher Boy, by P. McCabe and Angela's Ashes by F. McCourt mostly on a Psychological perspective

Introduction

“The Butcher Boy” is a renowned novel by McCabe, based on themes as parenting, family life and its issues, suicidal inclinations, child abuse, tragic moments, characteristics of Irish people and private school experiences. The story of the novel revolves around Patrick McCabe who is a boy in an Irish family. He was born in a dysfunctional family where everything fell apart from him, since the very childhood. Patrick McCabe pushes your head through the book and you come out the other end gasping, admiring, and knowing that reading fiction will never be the same again. There are a number of fine novels about violent youth, and Patrick McCabe's frightening and sorrowful “The Butcher Boy” stands up to any of them & Frank portrays himself in every word he utters, and his language gives Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy its valuable dread power (McCabe, 1992, 100-154). It is as bright as it is depressing, as funny as it is gruesome. We see Frank clearly as psychopath, and we ache with sympathy for him. It's almost impossible to pinpoint the moment in his growing up when the imagination of an ordinary boy shades over into something dangerously loony. The key of the novel is Frank's slangy, angry, '60s-flavored voice, which McCabe renders with a minimum of punctuation and a maximum of control (McCabe, 1992, 100-154).

Humans settle our ways, our attitudes towards life, our behavior and personality based on biological, genetic, social and psychological parameters. Angela's Ashes by F. McCourt is a painful, childhood memoir by the author to describe the adversities caused to a child in the era of the Great Depression (McCourt, 1996, 120-298). The best feature of this memoir is that after describing all the adversities and miseries, the work is molded to create an uplifting spirit in the end of the story. It is not at all intended to create a nostalgic or tragic account, rather presents the readers with hope and spirits. It is story that provides an account of Frank's survival and his triumph despite the losses and issues that he faced in his life. He wore rags for his diapers, begged for mere pieces of pork for Christmas dinner and igniting fire with colas gathered along the roadside are some of the acts that display an emotional description of the lad to face life as it came to him. Frank was a brave boy who faced extreme poverty and begged for shelter when he was also abused and disregarded by his neighbors (McCabe, 1992, 100-154). Despite this impoverished situations, Frank narrates his story with remarkable forgiveness and seeks the good in his situations. He narrates it as if he emerged a winner despite all worries that life had in store for ...