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Hello, today I’m going to do my speech on the question why does Frank rarely blame his father for the suffering that his alcoholism inflicts upon the family? How does this lack of censure affect the moral tone of McCourt’s memoir? First of all Frank does not outwardly condemn his father for his selfish actions. Malachy’s alcoholism referred to only half-jokingly as the “Curse of the Irish” runs through chapter one. Frank recalls only one period of respite from
Malachy’s incessant drinking is when the few weeks following Margaret’s birth. The happiness of the McCourt family around this time is poignant in contrast to the despair they endure after the baby’s death. after the baby’s death. In chapter two it explains this clearly that the protagonist does not apportion blame for his siblings’ deaths, and neither does Angela. In fact, the narrator never overtly criticizes his father, in part because the
five-year-old Frankie would not have done so. It is difficult to determine whether the author feels bitterness toward his father, as he only hints at his buried resentment. Frank’s uncertainty about how to respond to his father’s alcoholism comes through in his comment that he “didn’t know what to say” to his father when Malachy spent his entire dole money on alcohol. After Oliver’s death, Malachy takes Frank from store to store, begging for food. Malachy is turned
down everywhere, mocked for coming from the North, and he is told he should be ashamed of himself. I thought I should have put that in to show how dispirit Frank’s family got. In chapter three it explains how they lived on 16 shillings a week and because of Eugene and Oliver death, the family gets less money from public assistance. During the week Malachy would go out to the country side each a week and because of Eugene and Oliver death
the family gets less money from public assistance. During the week Malachy would go out to the country side each week day looking for...