Character Analysis Of Malachy In Angela's Ashes

Malachy Sr, Frank’s father, plays an important role in his family that is both positive and negative. He tells the children stories of many kinds and is the man of the family. However, he is addicted to drinking and drinks away his wages, making his family live in poverty. Throughout Angela’s Ashes, Malachy is portrayed as a selfish person who doesn’t care about his family when it comes to alcohol, an unwise person who does rash things, and a person who is too full of himself, but also as a person who is mistreated by others. Malachy through his actions is seen as an egocentric person. One example of this is shown on Frank’s christening day when he went to the speakeasies where “… he was sure they’d ply him with free drink in honor of his

For example, according to Angela’s Ashes, “… [Malachy and John McErlaine] believed… that the truck was packed… with cases of canned pork and beans. Neither knew how to drive…” They hijacked the truck that was actually full of buttons, and Malachy spent three months in jail for it. To add on, Malachy and Angela ended up getting married is another instance of an irrational choice. After knowing each other for a brief amount of time, the two fell in love and Malachy got Angela pregnant. Even though he had no money himself, he had a relationship with Angela and started her years of suffering. This suffering would later include many others. Additionally, since Angela became pregnant before Malachy and she got married, Frank was therefore “a bastard and doomed.” Furthermore, Malachy chose McErlaine as the godfather and McErlaine got drunk in a speakeasy and forgot about Frank’s baptism and Philomena said that Frank’s “soul is in danger” so Tommy had to become godfather. This illuminates the fact that because of Malachy’s actions, Frank’s soul “was in danger and doomed.” Even when the family already had six members: Angela, Frank, Malachy Jr, Oliver, Eugene, and himself, Malachy and Angela continued to have children, despite the insufficient wealth to provide luxuries and barely enough to keep them alive. This reveals that even though Malachy could not afford it, more children

For example, Angela wanted to give Frank a middle name, but Malachy said “No son of his would have a Limerick name.” and “Sticking to middle names was an atrocious American habit…” This demonstrates that Malachy thinks lowly of Limerick people and of the American habit of giving middle names. Furthermore, when Frank, Malachy Jr, and Angela were carrying the food for Christmas, Frank thought, “Even if Dad came he wouldn’t be much use because he never carries anything, parcels, bags, packages. If you carry such things you lose your dignity. That’s what he says.” Moreover, Malachy wouldn’t pick off coal that was on the road. This shows that Malachy thinks he is too good to do these low-class procedures. In addition, in Angela’s Ashes it states, “Dad says all that food comes from English money and no luck will come to those who took it but what could you expect from Limerick anyway… He says he’ll never go over there and help England win a war.” Finally, one time when Malachy wasn’t bringing home the wages and drinking them away, Angela went to the Labour Exchange with Malachy to personally take the money from the man. Malachy had told her that “he’ll be disgraced forever”, but she didn’t care and he did get disgraced. All of this shows the reader that Malachy thinks highly of