 | Confession, Forgiveness, Guilt, Love
 | Frankie's confession of his life and sins to Saint
Francis. Priest: "God forgives you, and you must forgive
yourself. God loves you, and you must love yourself. For only when
you love God and yourself can you love all of God's creatures."
(DVD ch 27) |
| Frankie "confessing" that he threw up his
first communion. (DVD ch 11) |
|
| Determination, Overcoming Obstacles |
| Clean/Unclean
| Humiliation of Frankie and family because they are
poor and because Frank's father is a northerner. (DVD ch 6, 14, 22,
etc) |
|
| Fathers
| Malachy (Frank's father) is entertaining and loving
when sober, but abandons the family because of drink and immaturity.
A complex picture of a father figure who abandons the family as
opposed to many cinematic cliches of such people. |
|
| Grace
| Frank throws the moneylender's ledger into the
Shannon. The debts are gone, washed away by the river. (DVD ch 28) |
|
| Grief/Death
| The death of Frank's sister, infant Mary Margaret,
begins Malachy's slide into drink and Angela's slide into
depression. (DVD ch 1) |
|
| Honor/Integrity
| Angela's integrity in the face of humiliation by
charities and her husband's abandonment. (DVD ch 20) |
| A teacher tells the children that it is not the
childrens' shame that their parents are poor. "You don't see
Jesus hanging on the cross sporting shoes." (DVD ch 17) |
|
| Liberation
| Frank leaves Ireland and comes to America. The
symbol of the Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of liberation
throughout his life. (DVD ch 28) |
|
| Miracle
| Frankie finds a penny, looks up at the Statue of
Liberty, prays to St Francis to get out of his brother's class.
Frank's composition about what it would be like if Jesus was born in
Limerick convinces the school to promote him. (DVD ch 17) |
|
| Mothers
| Angela's courage as she leaves depression and
learns to stand for her family. |
|
| Prayer
| Malachy, Frank and young Malachy pray following the
deaths of Eugene and Oliver. Frankie prays in the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Toast. (DVD ch 5) |
|
| Redemption
| When Frankie finally encounters a priest who
listens to him with empathy, rather than judging him as inferior
because of poverty, he pours out his whole long story of suffering.
Through the tears and the release, he also repents of his sins, and
experiences nothing short of miraculous cleansing and a new
beginning. (submitted by Brenda Byrne and Brad Wilson) |
|
| Teacher
| A teacher convinces Frank of his worth and
encourages him to leave Ireland. |
|
| Trinity
| Frankie prays in the name of the Father, the Son
and the Holy Toast. (DVD ch 5) |
| "He was the Holy Trinity, my father..."
(DVD ch 17) |
|
