In Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt, and The Street, by Ann Petry, both authors focus on dealing with challenges Difficult environments can require perseverance. Both excerpts from Angela's Ashes and The Street give a glimpse into the life of a poor person. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Angela's Ashes describes the life of a poor Irish boy and The Street is about a poor black single mother living in 1940s New York. York. Both authors establish the similar theme of the hardships faced by families in poverty and their perseverance through the use of characters, events, and settings. The author of Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt, portrays this theme through the main character, (himself) in the memoir. McCourt faces many challenges growing up. The song focuses on how his mother is bedridden and his father is away due to work, so he and his three brothers find themselves in a state of need as they cannot provide for themselves due to the circumstances. McCourt is forced to stay home from school and steal food so that he and his family don't starve. McCourt becomes the provider and perseveres through difficult times doing what is necessary to survive. 'I put on my shoes and run quickly through the streets of Limerick to keep warm against the February chill.'' It was a cold month, but Frank knew he had to get food for his family. Sometimes you have to face the hardships of the February freeze to do what you need to do to survive. In The Street, by Ann Petry, instead of using adverse social and economic circumstances to represent the theme, Petry uses the wind as a way to represent the difficult challenge the characters face. In their environment, the wind Notes Page 2 of 2 is a burden that continues to irritate everyone in the city. However, people are forced to continue with their daily lives, like the character Lutie Johnson, who was looking for a house while a strong wind surrounded her. Lutie accepts the circumstances and continues: 'The wind lifted Lutie Johnson's hair from her neck so that she suddenly felt naked and bald, for her hair lay softly and warmly on her skin.' Lutie and the wind are forces contrasting and their interaction is an inconvenience to Lute. Lutie cannot stop him, so he continues to live with the wind like all the other people in the city do. Together, the two passages convey that facing the challenges of a hostile environment must require perseverance. In Angela's Ashes, these challenges take shape through the people around McCourt. For a young boy, he finds fewer and fewer people willing to assist his family and finds himself carrying the burden alone a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay'' We don't laugh much, there's no more bread and we're hungry, all four of us. We can't get credit from O'Connell's store anymore. We can't even get close to grandma. He constantly scolds us because dad is from the North and never sends money home from England where he works in a munitions factory. Grandma says we could starve for all he cares.'. In The Street, the wind serves as a challenge due to its power disturbing and irritating everyone, but since they know that it is impossible to control the weather, they face the circumstances. Both passages talk about how there will be times when we are helpless, but in that helplessness we find a way to move forward. Persevering is not giving up. AND.