How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I want ye to go back down to that pub and read him out of it. I want ye to stand in the middle of the pub and tell every man your father is drinking the money for the baby. Ye are to tell the world there isn't a scrap of food in this house, not a lump of coal to start the fire, not a drop of milk for the baby's bottle. (7.150)
This episode's a turning point for Frank. Even he knows how you've hit rock bottom if you drink up money given for your baby.
Quote #8
Nora Molloy is inside screeching after Peter that […] if he brings that child home drunk she'll go to Scotland and disappear from the face of the earth.
Peter tells Mikey, Pay no attention to her, Cyclops. The mothers of Ireland are always enemies of the first pint. My own mother tried to kill my father with a frying pan when he took me for the first pint. (11.9-10)
Evidently, the wives of the Limerick drunks freak out at the thought of their sons being introduced to alcohol. But for the men, it's an important tradition of entering manhood at sixteen. Having your first beer doesn't have to be the beginning of a life as an alcoholic, but the tradition includes having all the men in the pub buying you a pint. Fortunately, Peter doesn't let that happen. He knows Nora would be furious, but the real reason is that he doesn't want Mikey to get sick and then never want to drink again. See our "Theme: Men and Masculinity" section for more on why a real man has to drink.
Quote #9
This is my wife. She may be Irish but she doesn't look it, thank God. Like you. Irish. You'll need a drink, of course. You Irish quaff at every turn. Barely weaned before you clamor for the whiskey bottle, the pint of stout. (16.6)
The Irish are stereotyped as infamous for their drinking habits. How does McCourt's memoir prove or disprove the notion that the Irish are heavy drinkers?