A Study In Fatherhood: Malachy Sr.

Being a parent is not a simple task and it never will be. You're responsible for small people who have no clue how the world works or how to care for themselves. They don't think things through and often find themselves in less than desirable situations. And as a parent, your job is to keep them alive, keep them healthy, and raise them the best you can. These ideals make themselves apparent in the memoir, Angela's Ashes, written by Frank Mccourt. Throughout the pages, Frank recounts many memories with his father, Malachy Sr, from telling the greatest stories in all of Ireland to saying prayers with him and his siblings before kissing their heads goodnight, to his father coming home late at night smelling strongly of alcohol and god knows what else and lining his sons up, making them promise to die for Ireland. This presents a very complex question as to whether or not Malachy is a good father. How anyone defends him and claims him to be so is a mystery to me, though. He drank money away, refused to resort to desperate measures even in desperate situations, and eventually left the family without a scrap of food on the table.

Drinking is deeply rooted in Ireland's culture and in moderation, isn't necessarily a huge problem. After all, nearly everyone drinks at some point whether in celebration or times of deep sorrow. Yet Malachy often takes it to new levels, despite facing consequences for his actions like lack of money, his family starting to turn on him, and losing jobs, he does not stop. In fact, there's only one point in the book where he goes weeks without a drink. When Margaret, the first and only baby girl in the family, was born. He's there every second holding her and rocking her and telling her stories. And when she dies of unknown causes, he leaves for two days, claiming to be getting cigarettes, but when he comes home...he reeks of alcohol and is singing Kevin Barry, stumbling all over the place. It is more likely that he was simply jumping pubs rather than anything else. When Oliver, one of the twins, dies and Malachy runs out of money for alcohol, he wants to tell the people of the pubs about his children dying and hope they pay for him, only stopped by Frank's uncle Pa Keating. And when Eugene dies, the second twin, he's found with a glass of Guinness on the tiny, white coffin. It's obvious to see that when there's a drink to be had, he has limited respect and nothing else on his mind and he will scrounge up all the money he can find, even going so far as to drink baby Alphie's birth money away.

When there's a drink to be had, he doesn't think of anything else. He was an alcoholic, too irresponsible to provide for his children and wife.

Secondly, Ireland was in the worst state possible. Jobs were scarce and dangerous, food was expensive and the blight wiped out many potatoes, and the economy was failing. Everyone was struggling, but when the idea of taking coal off the ground, or asking for help at the St. Vincent de Paul charity came into question, it was an immediate no. Even going on the dole was a stretch for him. He was far too prideful to even think about doing something like that. To him, begging was the lowest of the low, even if it got new jackets on his children and a fire in their home to fight away colds and to boil their tea; it was disgusting to him to even think about. He would fix their shoes, he would find them coats to wrap themselves up in while going to sleep, he would get the fleas off the mattress. While that doesn't make him sound horrible, he wasn't there often enough to see how bad it was really getting. The kids had only one outfit each, they were eating fried bread and drinking tea for every single meal, their teeth were rotting and their immune systems were low, and they were running outside in the rain with shoes that were falling apart. If had just begged or took a little coal off the road, would it really have hurt them any? Everyone was desperate enough anyways.

In some instances, it's easy to tell Malachy loves his family. He fixes their shoes and tells them stories, he says prayers with them and helps Frank learn Latin for Mass, he teaches them to read and to write and gives them the Friday Penny whenever he has a job. But stories of Cuchulain and the sound of clacking shoes fixed with bike tires fade away and reveal the overwhelming evidence of his failure as a father. He went off to England in hopes of finding a better job, and in his entire time there...only sends home one telegram of three pounds. And this is after coming home and seeing how sick Angela was with pneumonia and how starving the boys were, stealing all the food they could get their hands on. While all the other kids got to eat meals consisting of mashed potatoes and big hams and milk, they again, found themselves nibbling on fried bread and drinking nothing but tea and Malachy never comes home from England this time. It's easy to assume that he's spending all his earned money on drinks instead of providing for his family, which is what a good father is supposed to do. Not leave them without any food or any hope, not earn money and then turn around and use it all on himself. Where's the good in that? Where's the good of making a child, only fourteen years old, work himself to the bone just to even attempt to support his family?

There's a clear distinction between a good man and a good father...and it's debatable whether or not Malachy was a good man with good intentions, yet consumed by alcoholism, but he certainly hasn't shown enough evidence of being a good father. A good father is certainly allowed to have a couple of drinks every week, but is not supposed to spend all the money he can find on alcohol, a good father would be willing to give up his pride to care for his children, and a good father doesn't leave his family even when things are stressful. He provided some good memories for Frank and his brothers to look back on, but he certainly wasn't someone to be looking up to.