The times when Frank completely loathes his father are the times when he got drunk and used all of the money on himself. Malachy didn’t bring home the wages like a good husband but he would leave his family waiting at home for their supper whilst he went down to the pubs and drank all the money. At time like these, Frank could see his mother was angry and upset and he hated his father when he did that to her. Malachy came home drunk so many times, Frank and his brothers knew exactly what was going on when he didn’t come home at dinner time, they knew not to talk to him because he’d done the ‘bad thing’.
Frank constantly says that as he is the eldest son, he wanted to bring home the money his father never did and a number of times he thinks to himself that he wished he had a different dad. When Oliver dies, Frank gets very angry at his father for putting his pint on Oliver’s white coffin. Frank loved his brother very much and couldn’t stand Malachy being so disrespectful.
Although Frank hated his father for many things, he still loved him for he was his dad. Malachy would get up in the morning with Frank and tell him stories about Cuchulain, and then they would have their tea and a cut of bread together. Frank loved his mornings with his father as it was just the two of them and he had him all to himself. When Frank thought about having a different father, he would think about their morning together and would decide he was happy with him as his father. Frank loved him the most when he brought home the wages from his job and made his mother, Angela, happy. She would sing a song, “Anyone could see why I wanted your kiss,” and they would all have a wonderful day. He loved to know that he would be able to wake up in the morning, and they would all have a big breakfast.
Frank would say he wanted to be like his father so that he could understand everything just like him. Neighbours and other people that knew him would often tell him that he was very much like his father, ‘with the brown eyes and black hair and the ‘odd manner.’’ Frank thought of his dad as three different people, ‘the one in the morning with the paper,’ and ‘the one at night with the stories and the prayers,’ these were the two sides of his father he loved and idolised. The one his hated was ‘the one who does the bad thing and comes home with the smell of whiskey,’ and wanted them all to die for Ireland.
Malachy loved and cared for his sons a lot. When Frank didn’t come home, he searched for him the whole night until he found him. He ate little of his own food so that he could leave the rest of it for them and he would stay up at night time to help them sleep when they were staying over at their Aunt Aggie’s or their grandma’s. When Malachy was drunk, he would get all the boys out of bed in the middle of the night and make them line up like soldiers, making them swear to die for Ireland. These parts were quite comical but Frank was angry when he made his little brother Michael get up as well when he was so young.
When Malachy moved to England, Frank was upset when he left but they became very distant after a couple of years. Frank probably knew he wouldn’t see him again but he didn’t care because he hadn’t sent his mother a penny.
Frank hated Malachy, but when he hadn’t been drinking he loved him and spending time with him.
