Not knowing whom to depend on may guide a person's life into misery or death, especially if it were the life of a child. There is nothing worse then the suffering of children. This topic is a stigma, but two novels have dealt with this subject matter in a thought-provoking manner. Throughout Frank McCourt's, Angela's Ashes and Anne Frank's, The diary of a young girl, there are many comparative aspects. These novels are both autobiographies that use the suffering of children to acquire the reader's sympathy. Readers see the misery through the child's eye, which creates a greater impact of feeling. These two novels take place approximately around the same time frame. Frank McCourt's childhood story begins in 1935, were Frank McCourt is five years old, living in New York. Anne Frank's diary begins in 1942, when she is a twelve-year-old schoolgirl, living in Amsterdam, Holland. Franks and Anne's family faced hunger, death, boredom, petty misunderstandings, and frustration of living in unbearable conditions. The main characters in the novels learn whom they are able to depend on, found means to survive and turned to their religion for reassurance. Both Anne and Frank were able to keep their religious faith to better themselves although living in poverty and fearing for their lives.
             As a young boy Frank realizes he has to depend on himself for food and emotional stability. His home lacked this type of support for, his father who is an alcoholic, spent more time at the pub then taking care of his family. "The child is above in bed bawling and roaring for his milk and you're drinking the pint" (McCourt, 184), is said by Frank's younger brother in attempts to encourage his father to stop drinking all of their money away. Due to Frank's father's affliction with alcohol, Frank feels he must take on more responsibility. Frank gets a job to feed him and the f...