“My mother’s troubles began the night she was born.”

Part of Frank’s coming-of-age story involves learning to recognize his own agency and working toward a better life. Angela, however, seems doomed from birth: She can never seem to break free from the cycle of failure that defines her life.

“Why don’t you go to America where there’s room for all sorts of uselessness?”

There is an abundance of ethnocentrism in Limerick; this example comes from Angela’s mother. Grandma tends to view anyone not properly Irish, meaning Catholic, as lesser, and this includes Americans. Unlike Malachy and (later) Frank, she does not idealize America.

“Ya father? Well, ya know, he’s got the problem, the Irish thing.”

An Italian shop owner speaks this line. His description of Malachy’s “problem” (i.e., drinking) as “the Irish thing” hints at the stereotype that Irish people are alcoholics and demonstrates how many Americans perceived Irish immigrants in the early 20th century.