Money Agnes Children example essay topic

The Mammy The Irish tale depicts the life of a woman named Agnes Browne. The cards have fallen more than once for her, but with the love of her 7 children and faith, Agnes never losses her strength. The author, Brendan O'Carroll, adds elements of humor, tragedy, and love to this novel, which makes it hard to stop reading. Follow me as I talk about The Mammy and how her culture plays a part in her everyday life in the late 1960's, in Dublin, Ireland. The book begins with the death of Agnes Browne's husband Nicholas Browne, whom gets hit by a car. Agnes is now a widow and single parent to 7 children (6 boys and 1 girl), whom all range in ages 14-3.

All of her children attend strict Catholic schools. Although her oldest son wants to drop out of school to help his mother support the household, she wants him to stay and continue. Agnes does not want him to end up like his father was, an abusive drunk, who worked as a janitor for more than 15 years. Though Nicholas Browne beat Agnes, he was never to touch the children.

She was very protective of her children and everyone in Dublin knew it. Now Agnes has to raise the children with the money she gets from the social service office, her stall where she sales her fresh produce everyday, and her Catholic belief. Agnes has a best friend by the name of Marion Monks. The two are very close and do everything together. They go to the local pub all the time and gossip and drink alcohol. The pub they hang out in everyone knew one another and were all very friendly, the neighborhood is very tight.

With her very busy life Agnes does find time to daydream about her favorite singer named Cliff Diamond. She loves to listen to his records and relax. Agnes daydreams of him all the time wishing she could have one dance with him. Then tragedy hits Agnes once again when Marion dies of cancer. She is saddened by the sudden death of her best friend, but she has such strong strength, she knows Marion is looking down on her.

At the end of the book Agnes' dream comes true when she is surprised with a visit from Cliff Diamond and looks up in the sky to thank her friend Marion for watching over her. From reading this book I found that the Irish culture is extremely rich on family and religion. Irish families stay together and work with one another. I noticed that whatever money Agnes' children received from people, they gave it to their mother. They children also stuck together out of the home. If one fought they all fought.

Family is very important to the culture and they stick together. Religion is also important to the Irish culture. Irish people strongly believe in being Catholic. There was no one in Dublin who was not Catholic.

Every school was Catholic, as was every church. Agnes made sure all of her children were involved in church activities and respected the father of the church. Throughout the book Agnes spoke of God and how he watched over her, but after Marion passed, Agnes felt she was now looking down on her making her dreams come true. There were many different examples in this book that I could relate to the African-American experience, but two stood out to me the most. The first was how much Agnes loved and cared for her children.

This book takes place in the late 1960's, but can be related to the present. Many African-American women today are like Agnes, raising children in a single parent home. There is death, divorce, and children born out of wedlock resulting in single parent homes. The African-American of today love and care for there children as much as Agnes did. The second experience that caught my attention was the way family stuck together. I could relate my family to this because we all look after one another.

The Irish family unit is so tight and I feel that African-Americans have the same type of bond with their families also. I knew nothing about the Irish culture before reading this novel. I learned that they are family oriented, religious, and hard working. This book opens the doors to a single Irish family living their life day to day. A single mother with a huge responsibility and love for her children, with the spirit of her best friend looking upon her, Agnes is in many ways like the African-American woman of today.