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Pathos
Explanation and Analysis—The World to Ourselves:
In this passage, McCourt uses hyperbole and pathos to convey Frank’s conflicted feelings for his father, Malachy Sr., despite his father’s frequent failures. Frank reflects on the early mornings he shares with his father, when Malachy Sr. is mostly still sober and attentive. He says he cannot hate him, because
How can I do that when I’m up with him early every morning with the whole world asleep? He lights the fire and makes the tea and sings to himself or reads the paper to me in a whisper that won’t wake up the rest of the family. [...] In the morning we have the world to ourselves and he never tells me I should die for Ireland.
By exaggeratedly describing mornings with his dad as a time when “the whole world [is] asleep,” the author shows the reader the intimacy and warmth Frank feels when he and Malachy Sr. are alone together. When everyone else in the world is asleep, this time feels special and private, and Frank has his father’s full attention. This quiet, isolated world with a kind, intelligent parent taking care of him contrasts with the chaos that often comes later in the day. During these mornings, Frank doesn’t have to fear his father drinking all of their money away or doing embarrassing things in public.
The pathos of this moment evokes sympathy in the reader for both Malachy Sr. and young Frank. Frank’s loyal affection for his father is touching. These tender moments keep Frank's love for his dad alive. They're the small gestures that keep Frank from fully resenting his father, allowing the reader—alongside Frank—to glimpse the person Malachy Sr. might be if circumstances were different. Frank clings to moments like these, even though he and the reader both know by this point that Malachy Sr.’s next drunken episode is inevitably approaching.
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