MovieChat Forums > Angela's Ashes (2000) Discussion > If I were Angela I would go with the dru...

If I were Angela I would go with the drunk


to get the 5 pound gift for the " new baby". No way on earth would I let him collect the money cause she had to know what he was going to do , drink it all up DUH! Like I said in other posts. I blame her more than him. He is just an ole drunk and she is a dumba** for putting up with it and opening her legs every time he comes home.

There I said it LOL

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LOL! I just said this on another thread! Well, I'm more sympathetic towards Angela than you are, but I certainly didn't understand why she didn't go with him to get that money.

When the hurly-burly's done. When the battle's lost and won.

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Maybe she was not well enough to go get the money. She had just given birth in very poor conditions can't imagine her having a decent birth with a midwife? Plus the fact that she had lost her other three children probably affected her emotinally and physically.

She probably didn't have much choice when it came to opening her legs, I am sure her drunken husband would have made sure of that were woman more subservient then?

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i think in the book she was in poor health throughout but sometimes it suggested that she was just plain lazy. she pretty much made frank and malachy (jr) do everything. i dunno though, if i just had a baby i might not want to go out for awhile either.

as for her and malachy having so many kids...well, the catholic church more or less drilled into little girls that it was their duty to submit to their husbands and a sin to refuse. and no birth control. that's why catholic families are stereotyped as large.

but that she stayed with this loser that long...the sex must've been pretty good. women have needs too haha.

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I also read somwhere not sure if it was the book or the many websites about this subject, that the money came from his family. They may even say it briefly in the movie while he is at the counter collecting it. So I guess since it came from his family, Angela didnt feel she could demand he give it over to her. If I were her, he would not have set foot back in the house again after that, let alone knock me up again LOL

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but that she stayed with this loser that long...
If it was a sin to refuse your husband his 'marriage rights' than it was a mortal sin to abandon him. This movie says more about the catholic church in Ireland at the time then it does anything else.

Awe Skinny you got blood all over my trousers! Jeez I'm real sorry sorry Frank

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in the book she did eventually refuse him his 'marriage rights'...but she didn't 'leave' him. he left. it's a hideous double standard that exists not only in catholocism but everywhere else: the guy can do whatever he wants but the woman has to be 'responsible'

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Well she does in the movie as well and her husband reminds her of her 'duty'. To say that sort of things happens everywhere else is quite a broad suggestion.

We can't make you do anything, but we can make you wish you had!

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it's an accurate suggestion. seriously, can you name a religion or culture in which females aren't either brutally opressed or left holding the ball while the males get to do whatever they want? look at how single moms outnumber single dads in america (where the other parent isn't a factor)...men reserve the right to blow the money and leave. women stay and raise the kids.

not all men, not all women, i get it. not dissing the decent guys out there. no offense, just think about it.

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"seriously, can you name a religion or culture in which females aren't either brutally opressed or left holding the ball while the males get to do whatever they want?"

I can. Jehovah's Witnesses. A husband must provide for the family and the wife can too. If the husband is abusive, cheated on her ect. she does have the right to divorce him.

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I get that, but having rules and following rules are two different things. Most Judeo-Christian denominations require respect between people, yet disrespect is pervasive. I mean, I'm pretty sure Catholicism doesn't endorse spending all your children's food money on booze, but there it is.

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Angela was too weak to go. "Mam wants to cash it but she can't go far from the bed".

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Okay. So she was too weak to go herself.

But wouldn’t anyone else in her family have been a better option than her husband? Her mother? Her siblings? Sure, she might’ve had to deal with her family members complaining about her life and her husband, but at least they would’ve been fed.


When the hurly-burly's done. When the battle's lost and won.

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You don't understand the emotional turmoil being in a situation like that can cause. She probably was in a terrible emotional state. It may sound weak but being with a loser and poverty can do crap to your mind. You start to feel helpless. I can't imagine being under the stress she was. Society just beats you down and back then women were supposed to rely on their husbands for money. So she probably blamed herself for what was going on too. If you recall when she tried to get help from outside sources people were very nasty to her. I am sure that did things to her head too. People just didn't get divorced like they do now, and women did not support their families. It was just the frame of mind in those days. The whole family was victim to dad's alcoholism. I am sure things like this happened a lot.

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I don't know how old the baby was at that point.... but even in this day and age, it's hard for a woman who has just had a baby to walk normally. Her legs feel weak after everything she's gone through. I can imagine how it was back then, especially if a woman was very poor. So I doubt it was possible for Angela to walk to the post office with Malachy to get the cash. That's why she sent Frankie & Junior with him. Also - the funds did come from Malachy's family, so the money order must have been addressed to him. Although his family would have been better off sending the money to Angela's mother.

THE RAP CRITIC:
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