Post 8

Character Analysis (up to page 186)

Frank: He is the narrator of this memoir who talks about his childhood growing up. He likes helping out his family whenever they ask for it and does whatever his parents ask him to do. This is shown through many passages including when his mam says, "I want ye to go back down to that pub and read him out of it. I want ye to stand in the middle of the pub and tell every man your father is drinking the money for the baby" (183). A second passage this is shown is when mam tells Frank to help his uncle deliver newspaper and make money for the family, "Mam is delighted I'm getting sixpence on Fridays from Uncle Pat and sixpence on Saturdays from Mr. Timoney" (177). Although he does a lot of helping, he is also a bit of a trouble maker and sometimes goes against his parents will. One example is when Frank decides to skip school and stay at a friends instead of going home that night. McCourt writes, "She says, Where were you all night?" "I was here" (167).

Malachy: He is the father of the memoir and of Frank. He does not have a job and does not help the family out financially at all. This quote descibes him perfectly, "I know I don't have to tell Mam anything, that soon when the pubs close he'll be home singing and offering us a penny to die for Ireland and it will be different not because it's bad enough to drink the dole or the wages but a man that drinks the money for a new baby is gone beyond the beyonds as my mother would say" (186). Even though he doesn't care for them financially, he does love them all and this kids love him too. McCourt says, "I sit and wait upstairs, knocking the fleas off my arms and legs, wishing I had Dad here..."(182). This is also shown when Mam says, "You had me demented. Your father walked every street in Limerick looking for you" (167).

Angela: She loves kids. The reader knows this because she has had seven, even though three have died. "Micheal runs to me. Mammy was crying. Mammy was crying for you, Frankie" (167). She gets very angry with her husband because he spends all their money, "When he returns in the evenings she still won't talk to him and she won't make his tea" (171). She believes that the lives and futures are most important along with having enough financially.