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The Struggles Of Growing Up In Southie By Helen Macdonald

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Recommended: Minorities and police brutality

As summarized by www.publishersweekly.com , “In this plainly written, powerful memoir, MacDonald, now 32, details not only his own story of growing up in Southie, Boston's Irish Catholic enclave, but examines the myriad ways in which the media and law enforcement agencies exploit marginalized working-class communities. MacDonald was one of nine children born (of several fathers) to his mother, Helen MacDonald, a colorful woman who played the accordion in local Irish pubs to supplement her welfare checks. Having grown up in the Old Colony housing project, he describes his neighbors' indigence and pride of place, as well as their blatant racism (in 1975 the anti-busing riots in Southie made national headlines) and their deep denial of the organized …show more content…

Davey was Michael and Frankie’s schizophrenic brother who was always sort of on edge because he was always have evil thoughts and poor mental health. Davey was very dependant on Frankie and whenever he had a problem he knew that Frankie had his back. In chapter 6 on pages 144,145, and 149, Macdonald recalls, “One time a gang of kids Frankie called ‘the pretty boys,’ with their perfect hair and pressed clothes, were making fun of Davey and his bouncy step. ‘Hey, Frank, some maggots are botherin’ me!’ … Frankie … walked up to them saying, ‘ You f**kin’ with my brother?’ They begged for forgiveness, saying they didn’t know Davey was a Macdonald. … [Davey] was walking with a less edgy step, and even if he looked funny, he often had a more relaxed look in his eyes, living with his buddy Frankie. … Then it sounded as if someone was breaking down our door, they were banging so hard. Frankie whipped open the door ready for a fight. It was my friend Walter who lived across the street. He was crying. ‘It’s Davey! I don’t know what happened! He came flying off of the roof!’” This shows that Frankie’s overprotectiveness was one of his tragic flaws and may have led to the suicide of his brother because in my opinion, Davey began to depend heavily on Frankie to handle all of his issues and calm him down when he had one of his schizophrenic episodes. Maybe that day, Davey was beginning to have an episode and Frankie wasn’t around to calm him down so he did the unthinkable and took his own life. Davey became so dependant on Frankie that when he wasn’t around he didn’t know what to

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