How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
It's dark on Atlantic Avenue and all the bars around the Long Island Railroad Station are bright and noisy. We go from bar to bar looking for Dad. Mam leaves us outside with the pram while she goes in or she sends me. There are crowds of noisy men and stale smells that remind me of Dad when he comes home with the smell of whiskey on him.
The man behind the bar says, Yeah, sonny, whaddya want? You're not supposeta be in here, y'know.
I'm looking for my father. Is my father here? (1.1.129-131)
Frank's introduced to the adult world at an early age due to his father's irresponsible behavior. Is it fair to say that Frank's childhood is cut short because of him?
Quote #2
My mother tells me all the time, Never, never leave that playground except to come home. But what am I to do with the twins bawling with the hunger in the pram? I tell Malachy I'll be back in a minute. I make sure no one is looking, grab a bunch of bananas outside the Italian grocery shop and run down Myrtle Avenue, away from the playground around the block and back to the other end where there's a hole in the fence. We push the pram to a dark corner and peel the banana for the twins. There are five bananas in the bunch and we feast on them in the dark corner. (1. 171)
This passage is another instance of Frank having to think like a grown up way before his time. From an early age, Frank learns responsibility and how to take care of his siblings. Since much of the time this involves petty thievery, it adds to the guilt Frank drags with him throughout his youth.
Quote #3
Dad says I'll understand when I grow up. He tells me that all the time now and I want to be big like him so that I can understand everything. It must be lovely to wake up in the morning and understand everything. I wish I could be like all the big people in the church, standing and kneeling and praying and understanding everything. (3.127)
Ah, yes, the misleading notion that life becomes clearer as we get older. If anything, life only becomes murkier. The search for "understanding" is never-ending; it's also part and parcel of being a grownup, living life without fully comprehending it. Have we mentioned that we miss being a kid?