How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
I'll tell you what it is, she says. 'Tis class distinction. They don't want boys from lanes on the altar. They don't want the ones with scabby knees and hair sticking up. Oh, no, they want the nice boys with hair oil and new shoes that have fathers with suits and ties and steady jobs. That's what it is and 'tis hard to hold on to the Faith with the snobbery that's in it. (5.126)
Getting in with The Plastics is a piece of cake compared to getting into the upper echelons of McCourt's Ireland. McCourt's no fan of the Catholic Church—he sees the well-fed, well-dressed priests as allied with the rich classes.
Quote #5
I'd like to be a Jesuit some day but there's no hope of that when you grow up in a lane. Jesuits are very particular. They don't like poor people. They like people with motor cars who stick out their little fingers when they pick up their teacups. (10.59)
You can see how this class consciousness destroys Frank's hope from a really early age. There are certain futures that he knows are closed to him.
Quote #6
My mother is a beggar now and if anyone from the lane or my school sees her the family will be disgraced entirely. My pals will make up new names and torment me in the schoolyard and I know what they'll say,
Frankie McCourt
beggar woman's boy
scabby-eyed
dancing
blubber-gob
Jap (10.88)
There are levels of poverty and the McCourts have just hit rock bottom. It was bad enough when they were on the dole; it was even worse when they had to take money from the St. Vincent de Paul Society; but now it's just plain mortifying. In Limerick, sometimes it seems like starving is a better option than getting your money from the dispensary. People from the lowest class had nothing but their self-respect, so losing that by going to the dispensary was the worst. Most of the McCourts' neighbors are just as poor as they are, but we guess it makes you feel better if you can point to someone even worse off. Psychologists call this coping strategy "downward comparison," and it works. Like when you're trying to decide how good looking you are, it doesn't help to be looking at photos of Jennifer Lawrence.