IRA #5

Angela's Ashes


Chapter 6-7


The first chapter starts talking about what it is really like being in a Catholic school classroom. Just by reading this, I can tell that religion is so important in Ireland. The idea of having an extremely strict teacher make you repeat every word that he says makes the entire class seem like some kind of robots. It makes me think about when I have Catechism classes, except the fact that our teachers are way more lenient. There is no punishment for being disruptive or for asking too many questions.  The teacher torments the students by taunting them with food, which is extremely low considering that not many of these kids get enough to eat. The torture that is depicted in this story is so cruel. The idea of the teacher peeling a fresh piece a fruit and not giving it to any of the hungry children is just terrible. Only if you are good will you get a piece of the apple. The chapter continues talking about school and it's ups and downs. The thing that it does talk about most importantly is bullying, which is a very scary issue. Basically there is this boy Fintan who is teased and made fun of because he is seen as the outcast, the smart one, and the most religious out the entire class. Francis and his friend Paddy hang out with Fintan, , but they are also teased. After reading this, you could tell that bullying was even an issue back then, but there wasn't anything done about it because everyone thought it was normal. Today in this era, kids are committing suicide because of what is said about them behind their backs. Bullying has an emotional toll on not only the victim, but the bully itself. Who knows what contributes to bullying? Another thing that goes with the idea of school is truancy. Frank skips school to hang about with Paddy where they both go on their way finding food, relaxing, and  enjoying their day. However, when the parents find out, things aren't as relaxing and enjoying as they were. The main character is scared what his parents and the church will do to him so he stays at his friend's house. The next morning he picked up by his mom and surprisingly not punished as bad as he should be. When you have your child run away, you sometimes just want to be happy they are home, and lessen the punishment even though they are in trouble. Here is some more information on the children of this era. They were extremely tough. If there was a death or illness in the family, there would be no crying. The entire family helped them get well or made them comfortable. Now for the idea of little kids working, going to school, and doing extracurricular activities. Frankie is forced to get a job with his uncle selling the newspaper. Unbeknownst, he got a job reading stories and the news paper to a crazy old man. However,, this tends to be a conflict, whereas he is being forced to be in the Confraternity by a kid-who-thinks-he's-all-that, who doesn't want to ruin his perfect attendance for it will ruin everything according to him. On the bright side for Frankie, his mom has another baby named Alfonsus. As you can see from this blog, I did not talk about the father at all. Well he is still the worthless, lowlife, piece of crap he was in the last chapters, still drinking away the families income.