Words: 291
Food was a hardship for the family since Malay never holds a steady job and drinks the money he makes. Angela had credit from the food stores yet that was never enough. The kids always complained of grumbling stomachs and jealousy over the other children’s food. Burglary and pleading were the only ways the Monocot’s gained their food once Malay leaves for England. This leads to Frank feeling guilty about the ways he had to provide help for his family.
There is never a moment in the book where the Monocots feel they have enough food to last them for a while. For instance, on page 296, Frank describes a moment Of desperation, “He says there’s no food in the house, not a scrap of bread, and when he falls asleep I take the greasy newspaper from the floor. I lick the front page, which is all advertisements for films and dances in the city. Lick the headlines. I lick the great attacks of Patton and Montgomery in France and Germany. I lick the war in the Pacific.
I lick the obituaries and the sad memorial poems, the sports pages, the market prices f eggs butter and bacon. I suck the paper till there isn’t a smidgen of grease”. This particular quote symbolizes the desperation of Franks childhood on the edge of starvation. Frank elaborates on his memory to create a more complex understanding of his situation. What noticed about the style of writing as I read this quote is that McClure kept repeating the words “I lick. ” The repetition of these two words indicates that Frank is using emphasis to portray the readers how starvation was a huge hardship throughout his childhood.