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“I think my father is like the Holy Trinity with three people in him, the one in the morning with the paper, the one at night with the stories and the prayers, and then the one who does the bad thing and comes home with the smell of whiskey and wants us to die for Ireland.” (Page 210)
- Frank is now becoming aware  to the things is father does an how it affects the family, This is a sign of how Frank is maturing.

“I want to get up and tell her I'll be a man soon and I'll get a job in the place with the big gate and I'll come home every Friday night with money for eggs and toast and jam” (Page 28)
-Frank realizes that his Mother is suffering from the pain his Father brings her and is willing to step up to the plate and be a man in order to make his mom happy.

"You drank the money, Dad.

You drank the money, Dad.

You drank the money, Dad.

We're shouting so loud Alphie begins to cry. Dad says, Och, boys, now boys. Respect for your father.” (Page 270)
-Frank is now confronting his dad for drinking the dole, this shows that Frank is maturing and sees that the source of the problem is Malachy alcoholic ways.

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"He knows the next day we'll be getting Confirmation money and if we promise to pay him a shilling each he'll let us climb up the rainspout behind his house this very night to look in the window and see his sisters' naked bodies when they take their weekly wash. I sign right away."
- This illustrates a "coming of age" for Frank because he is doing things a young boy probably would not do. He is understanding these "sins" and still participating them, also showing he is making his own choices now that he is becoming older.

"I want the job. I want to bring home the shilling. I want to be a man.

You can be a man without bringing home the shilling. Go upstairs and rest your eyes or it's a blind man you'll be."
- This illustrates a "coming of age" for Frank because he is developing an idea of what being a man is in his own mind. He wants to get a job and pay for things so he can be the opposite of his father and be able to help his family out.

" Mrs. Hannon always calls me Frank now. Anyone that delivers hundredweights of coal is not a Frankie."
- This illustrates a "coming of age" for Frank because as a young boy many of the adults he knew called him Frankie, which was sort of a childish nickname for him. However, when Mrs. Hannon calls Frank by his name and not Frankie, he seems to feel older. Now that he has a job and is called "Frank", he feels like he is becoming a man.

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"The man behind the bar says, Yeah, sonny, whaddya want? You're not supposeta be in here, y'know." (P.27) - Shows Frank is being exposed to really adult situations as a young kid because of his father's drinking problem.

"I want the job. I want to bring home the shilling. I want to be a man." (P.261) - Shows he is growing and now understands the situation the family faces and wants to pitch in.

"It's hard to sleep when you know the next day you're fourteen and starting your first job as a man." (P.309) - Shows a huge step in becoming a man for Frank, starting a job.

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"You drank the money, Dad.

You drank the money, Dad.

You drank the money, Dad.

We're shouting so loud Alphie begins to cry. Dad says, Och, boys, now boys. Respect for your father.”
- This is showing Frank maturing and "coming of age" because he is finally accepting that his father is doing these harmful things towards his family. Frank is now mature enough to realize this.

"I want the job. I want to bring home the shilling. I want to be a man. "
- This shows that Frank is trying to be mature for his family by being a man and getting a job. Hes showing that maturity through trying to take on responsibility of being the man of the house.

" Mrs. Hannon always calls me Frank now. Anyone that delivers hundredweights of coal is not a Frankie."
- This shows that even the people around Frank are noticing his maturity, calling him Frank rather than Frankie. He is growing up and people are noticing too.

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"what am I to do with the twins bawling with the hunger in the pram? I tell Malachy I'll be back in a minute. I make sure no one is looking, grab a bunch of bananas outside the Italian grocery shop and run down Myrtle Avenue, away from the playground around the block and back to the other end where there's a hole in the fence. We push the pram to a dark corner and peel the banana for the twins."(32)
*** Frank is old enough to realize that he has to provide for himself and his siblings. He does this by stealing.
"On the way home i see myself in the glass of a shop window all black from the coal, and I feel like a man, a man with a shilling in his pocket, a man who had a lemonade in a pub with two coal men and a lime man. I'm not a child anymore and I could easily leave school Leamy's School forever" (216)
***Frank earning his own money at such a young age through hard-work makes him feel grown and makes him feel as though he does not need school. He wants to take on the responsibility of providing for his family.
"I know when dad does a bad thing. I know when he drinks the dole money and Mam is desperate and has to beg St. Vincent de Paul society and ask or credit at Kathleen O’ Connell’s shop” (208)
***As Frank grows up he begins to see his father for what he is and how useless he is.

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"When I start that job at the post office I'll buy him [Micheal] shoes so I will. I'll give him an egg and take him to the Lyric Cinema for the film and the sweets and then we'll go to Naughton's and eat fish and chips till our bellies are sticking out a mile. I'll get money some day for a house or a flat with electric light and a lavatory and beds with sheets blankets pillows like the rest of the world. We'll have breakfast.." 298
- This illustrates 'Coming of Age' because Frank is starting to think ahead and deciding he'll take care of himself and his brother Micheal and try and give him a better life.

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"people like me with wages in their pockets. I want them to know Im like them, Im a man, I have a pound. " (314) This shows how proud Frank is to be able to make money and work hard to support himself. Many kids dont find that working is worth it, but he has taken pride in it.

"I dont want to go. i want to work. I want to be a man" (289) This talks of Franks values changing where he now values hardwork over an education. he has grown up to realize he can sacrifice going to school in order to help out his family.
"still, Ill have to try kathleen o'connell once more...my brothers are starving and we'll all be dead for the want of bread" (236) Frank has taken the role of man in the house now that malachy has gone to england. He realizes this is his responsibility to take care of his family as the oldest now that his mom is sick.

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"Dad has a job so Bridgey Hannon is able to visit Mam and the baby anytime she likes. For once Mam doesn't tell us go outside and play so they can talk about secret things." (McCourt 180)
"Dad give us the money. That money is for the baby." (McCourt 183).
"... All I can think of doing is running in and giving him a good kick in the leg..." (McCourt 185)

All of these quotes show the coming of age of Frank because now he is realizing how horrible his father is. Frank is starting to grow up and become more observant and truly understand how bad and worthless Malachy might actually be.

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"I don't care what they call me anymore as long as my eyes are clearing up and I have a regular job lifting hundredweights of coal on a float," (McCourt 262).
- Frank expresses sympathy to the responsibility of having a job. He treats it as though it is a privilege

"Mrs. O'Connell and Miss Barry at the post office tell us every day our job is to deliver telegrams and nothing else," (McCourt 316).
-Frank is given a serious amount of responsibility by taking a job at the post office.  He will be working a real job to help support his family and his own future.

"I tell her not to bother.  I'm eleven and I can easily look after my brothers.  I's be glad to stay home from school and make sure everyone is fed and washed," (McCourt 240).
-When Angela is sick, Frank offers to take care of the family. This is a noble and confident gesture from such a young boy. He even proves himself when he steals all of the bread and lemonade. This was not the right thing to do, but it shows that he is willing to do whatever he has to to help his family survive.

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"till they're hungry again and they cry so hard I don't know what to do.. I wish I could give them all kinds of food." page 31
- This shows Frank at a young age understanding what is wrong and wanting to help take care of and feed his younger siblings, which is normally the adult's job.
"Frank of yours is big and ugly enough to work. But he's only nine and in school. School. 'Tis school that has him the way he is..." page 173
- At the young age of nine, Frank is being told he should work. School is also being discouraged to him because the family doesn't have enough money. This is another way he is having to grow up, and at a very young age.
"The day before my fourteenth birthday I see myself in the glass in Grandma's sideboard. The way I look how can I ever start my job at the post office." page 305
-Frank's main focus is getting a job because he is on his own. No adults are providing for him, so he has to do it himself and work for his food.

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"I want the job. I want to bring home the shilling. I want to be a man." (McCourt 261)
-This shows that now that he's older he can get a job a take care of his family, something his dad failed to do constantly.
"I think my father is like the Holy Trinity with three people in him, the one in the morning with the paper, the one at night with the stories and the prayers, and then the one who does the bad thing and come home with the smell of whiskey and wants us to die for Ireland.' (McCourt 210)
-Even at a young age Frank sees all the sides of his dad, the two that he loves and the one that is the reason the don't ever have food on the table.
"Dad says I'll understand when I grow up. He tells me that all the time now and I want to be big like him so I  con understand everything." (McCourt 108)
-Frank thinks that just because he grows up he will understand everything which isn't technically true. Growing up means your life gets more difficult.

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I'm not certain what page this was on... but there's a part where Frank is looking for his father in a bar saying "I'm looking for my father. Is my father here?" The idea of this is absolutely absurd that such a young child has to be so exposed to the dark side of the world, and it's probably one of the fleeting moments of what you could really call his "childhood."

"He has an idea for Billy and me. He knows the next day we'll be getting Confirmation money and if we promise to pay him a shilling each he'll let us climb up the rainspout behind his house this very night to look in the window and see his sister's naked bodies" (McCourt 188) This is another sign of Frank's fleeting innocence. He and his friends wanting to see naked girls, though rather disgusting in this situation, is pretty standard for a group of pre-teen boys. It's a sign that they're "growing up" by conventional standards.

"A penn'orth of Cleeves' toffee doesn't last forever and when it's gone I have to think of going home to a mother who let my father push his excitement into her so that I could be born in half the time and grow up to be a bastard." (McCourt 256) This is one of many instances in which Frank is self-realizing about the situation he and his family are in. Reflecting on my past is something I've done a lot in times when my maturity has grown and I think Frank is going through a similar kind of period.

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"I can't stay in this house for if Laman Griffin comes at me again I'll take a knife to his neck. I don't know what to do or where to go (McCourt 295)."
- This illustrates coming of age for Frank because he is finally old enough to make his own decisions and move out of the house. He had stayed silent for a little about his opposition to Laman, but he gathered up the courage to speak out against him when they got in a disagreement over the bicycle. Frank decides he can no longer deal with Laman and moves out of the house, which is a very mature decision of him.

"Frankie McCourt the workingman, with a pound in his pocket. It's Friday night and I can do anything I like. I can have fish and chips and o to the Lyric Cinema (McCourt 314)."
- This demonstrates the coming of age theme seed because Frank has moved out on his own and is paying for his own life himself. He is focused on his job and working hard and enjoying the new found opportunities he has because he is making money.

"I think my father is like the Holy Trinity with three people in him, the one in the morning with the paper, the one at night with the stories and the prayers, and then the one who does the bad thing and comes home with the smell of whiskey and wants us to die for Ireland (McCourt 210)."
- This demonstrates coming of age because Frank is finally becoming to old enough to realize how little his father is really providing for the family and how his personality is. He realizes that his father does "bad things" and that it seems like there are many sides to him, which is a very mature and abstract thought.

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"She says, You can't be delivering coal with the state of your eyes. The dust will surely destroy them. I want the job. I want to bring home the shilling. I want to be a man." (pg. 261)
"Malachy holds the lemonade bottle to her lips and she gasps till she finishes it. If she likes it that much I'll have to find more lemonade." (pg. 237)
"She says Malachy and I have to take runs looking after Alphie, taking him out in the pram for a bit of fresh air." (pg.249)
This shows the coming of age because Frank has realized he is the only one who can provide for the family and bring home shilling. He knows that since his father won't step up and be a man, he has to and he wants to step up and do his part for the family. He is tired of feeling embarrassed and begging for food or stealing food and wants to be able to eat by paying for the food rather than stealing it. He knows how hard it is for his mom and he wants to make life easier for her even if that means permanently damaging his eyes. He would do anything for her just as she would for him. Frank has to grow up during his childhood instead of running around having fun like a normal young kid would do. Frank has to learn how to provide for the family even without money by stealing. He takes care of his mother when she is sick and bring her lemonade when she asks for it. Frank also has to man up and take care of his siblings by feeding them and making sure they stay out of trouble. He gets them food and drink and starts fire to keep them warm. Frank has to learn how to be a man at such a young age because his father won't help and his mother is too sick to provide for the family through begging.

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“I can’t stop interfering with myself…I don’t want to go to hell with devils chasing me for eternity jabbing me with hot pitchforks” (pg. 286)

-This is coming of age because Frank is beginning his sexual awakening, but it is very confusing for him because he thinks everything is a sin. He thinks this because no one in the Church will explain anything to him.

“I know when Dad does the bad thing. I know when he drinks the dole money and Man is desperate and has to beg at the St. Vincent de Paul Society…” (pg. 208)

-This is a coming of age because it is one of the very first times the reader sees that frank understands how horrible his father treats the family. This is a big moment for frank because it is the beginning to the end of frank putting up with his father’s BS

“You drank the money, Dad. We’re shouting so loud Alphie begins to cry. Dad says Och, boys, no boys, Respect your father” (pg. 270).

-This is a coming of age because it is the first time the reader sees frank standing up to his father. We see frank resemble his mother, by yelling at his father for being useless. For knowing that he has a family to take care of but continues to drink it away as if they do not matter.

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- "I'm a man, I have a pound. I walk up one side of O'Connell Street and down the other and hope they'll notice me." (page 314)
This demonstrates Frankie is trying to both provide for his family and become a man. He sees having a job as the sole meaning of being a man and is proud to be one.
- "I know about the excitement and I know it's a sin but how can it be a sin if it comes to me in a dream" (page 291)
It becomes evident that Frankie is exploring his sexuality at this point. Moreover,  the church causes him a lot of confusion on the matter because he cannot understand how something he can't entirely control can be a sin.
- "I'm dying to go around with Mr. Hannon on the great float like a real working man" (page 258)
At this point Frankie truly believes that it is his duty to provide for the family and help out because he is old enough. Additionally, he can clearly see that if he does not do it, no one else will and all he wants is for his family to be happy. This shows a new level of maturity that is prominent because he is coming of age.

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"I'm dying to go around with Mr.Hannon on the great float like a real working man" (258)
This quote is an example of Frank growing up and getting a job. he holds several jobs throughout the book and they make him feel proud, and like a man. He is stepping up for what his father should be and providing for his family.

As much as I hate to use this as an example, Frank "interfering" with himself, mostly in chapter 14, is an example of him coming of age. When he takes his morning walks like his dad and gets "excited" on the castle, then later steals bread, he states "I'm borrowing , and that's not a mortal sin. Besides, I stood on top of a castle this morning and committed a sin far worse than stealing bread and milk. If you commit one sin you might as well commit a few more because you get the same sentence in hell. One sin, eternity. A dozen sins, eternity" (299). Frank realizes masturbating is a sin, but no longer cares. He's committed enough sins to know he's going to hell anyway and has aged out of his righteous stage of life.

One last example of Frank coming of age, is probably one of the most important in the story. It is when Frank stops idolizing his father and sees him for the drunk that he is. I believe this finally settles in when his father returns late from London with no money. Frank states "Mam asks him is he brought any money. He tells her times are hard, jobs are scarce, and she says, Is it coddin' me you are? There's a war on and there's nothing but jobs in England. You drank the money, didn't you?" (270) the Frank (and I assume Malachy) start yelling "You drank the money, Dad. You drank the money, Dad" (270). Before this point, Frank has never really confronted his father on the drinking problem. He protested him spending the money for Alphie, but still comes home empty handed.

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"I want to get up and tell her I'll be a man soon and I'll get a job in the place with the big gate and I'll come home every Friday night with money for eggs and toast and jam..."
Even from an early age Frankie wants a job so he can help pay for necessities. He's attached a job and money with being an adult, which is definitely shown throughout the rest of the book.

"He can do it as long as it doesn't interfere with school and he can start Saturday morning. I'm a man now so I light the fire early on Saturday morning.."
The minute Frank gets a job helping deliver coal he thinks he's now a man, proving the connection he has made between growing up and jobs. He will try and take more responsibility now as part of his new grown up personality.

"I watch Michael go up the lane with the sole of his shoe broken and clacking along the pavement. When I start that job at the post office I'll buy him shoes so I will."

Frank is semi on his own now, but already some of his first thoughts about the money he is going to earn at the new job is looking after his younger brother. He has definitely matured and is looking to use what he earns not just for himself or on only sweets, but to provide for someone else.

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"Dad says I'll understand when I grow up. He tells me that all the time now and I want to be big like him so that I can understand everything. It must be lovely to wake up in the morning and understand everything. I wish I could be like all the big people in the church, standing and kneeling and praying and understanding everything."
This quote shows Malachy's desire to become older so that he can understand the world like his father. This happens gradually to him as he grows older and more about the world is revealed to him.

" He knows the next day we'll be getting Confirmation money and if we promise to pay him a shilling each he'll let us climb up the rainspout behind his house this very night to look in the window and see his sisters' naked bodies when they take their weekly wash. I sign right away."
This quote shows how Frank is growing into puberty and away from childhood because he begins to feel attracted and curious about females.

"On the way home I see myself in the glass of a shop window all black from the coal, and I feel like a man, a man with a shilling in his pocket, a man who had a lemonade in a pub with two coal men and a lime man. I'm not a child anymore and I could easily leave Leamy's school forever."
This quote shows how Frank is beginning to feel like a man because he is going to the pub and he has a shilling. He sees that he is turning into a man through his reflection and thinks he doesn't need to go to store and should start working now.

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“I know when dad does the bad thing. I know when he drinks the dole money and mam is desperate.”
At this age, Frank is now old enough to recognize his father's drunkedness
‘She always repeats the third verse an laughs so hard she’s crying and I don’t Know why.” (Page 135).
At a young age, Frank did not understand why his mother found the poem so funny, which he later becomes old enough to understand.

“She tried to stick her hands into his pockets but he pushed her away. Have Reshpeck, he said. Reshpeck in front of his shildren”.
As Frank gets older, he realies his mother begs for help, and is ashamed of it.

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1. "He gave me sixpence, and tells me to return the next saturday" (page 176)
This shows that Frank is trying to support his family through the difficult times, although his father is not there he is trying to step up and be someone who is accountable and can help the family.
2. "I might as well take the whole box. My mother would say you might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. I lift the box and try to look like a messenger boy and no one says a word" (Page 238)
Although Frank is unable to support his family through legitimate financial means in this part of the book he is trying as hard as he can to support himself and his brothers by stealing what he has to in order to keep them alive.
3. "Uncle Pa says, What are you doing all black yourself Frankie? Did you fall down a coal mine? I was helping Mr. Hannon on the float"
This is really the first time in the book that Frank is able to help his family by getting a real job and this job, despite taking his vision away from him means the world to him, and the fact that he gets to support his family makes him feel for the first time like a man.

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Lainey Daum

"I want the job. I want to bring home the shilling. I want to be a man. You can be a man without bringing home the shilling. Go upstairs and rest your eyes or it's a blind man you'll be."

Frank is learning to take responsibility for being the provider in the house- he likes having a job because it makes him feel useful and like an adult. This is something he's talked about before, he's just not had the chance.

"On the way home I see myself in the glass of a shop window all black from the coal, and I feel like a man, a man with a shilling in his pocket, a man who had a lemonade in a pub with two coal men and a lime man. I'm not a child anymore and I could easily leave Leamy's school forever"

Frank is starting to recognize his own growth. He likes the idea of being an adult, doing all the things they get to do. He likes the idea of having responsibility and he seems to take pride in seeing himself all messy from work.

"if I die tonight I'm in a state of sin for stealing and I could go straight to hell stuffed with fish and chips but it's Saturday and if the priests are still in the confession boxes I can clear my soul after my feed."

This is an interesting one for "coming of age," but being raised in a Catholic family, Frank is beginning to take accountability for his actions and discriminate between right and wrong. He's doing what he has to to survive, but he's also having trouble with his religion as he gets older. The strict rules are kind of all he can think about.

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"It's July and school is over forever. In a few weeks I'll be delivering telegrams at the post office, working like a man" (297).
Frank sees his job opportunity as a way to prove himself as a real man, a working member of society, and capable of supporting his family.
"I'm going to America till one priest catches my attention. He says he comes from the order of the White Fathers, missionaries to the nomadic Bedouin tribes and chaplains to the French Foreign Legion. I ask for the application" (290).
Frank sees the opportunity to get out of Ireland and make a better life for himself somewhere else. First he wanted to leave for America, but now he sees that he could join a mission.
"...I think of Uncle Pa Keating and what he said, I think of the sign in Eason's office, SMART BOY WANTED. I don't want to go in that door and pass the exam for if I do I'll be a permanent telegram boy with a uniform..." (334).
Frank doesn't want to be trapped in Limerick, he wants to leave to America to make his and his family's lives better. He makes a decision to keep the worse, temporary job and get more money from a side job.

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" But what am I to do with the twins bawling with the hunger in the pram? I tell Malachy I'll be back in a minute. I make sure no one is looking, grab a bunch of bananas outside the Italian grocery shop and run down Myrtle Avenue, away from the playground around the block and back to the other end where there's a hole in the fence" (McCourt 26).
This shows the theme of coming of age because Frank had to do something that most kids would not think about, but rather an adult would. He had to think like an adult to solve his problems.

" It must be lovely to wake up in the morning and understand everything. I wish I could be like all the big people in the church, standing and kneeling and praying and understanding everything" (McCourt 108).
In this quote, Frank thinks that being an adult means that one day you wake up and understand everything. However, he does not realize that it is quite the opposite and everything really gets more confusing.

"Grandma says to Mam, Your brother Pat, bad leg an' all, was selling papers all over Limerick by the time he was eight and that Frank of yours is big and ugly enough to work" (McCourt 174).
This quote shows that children Frank's age and even younger had to contribute to the family in order keep the family alive.

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"Mikey is coming out of his house with his father, Peter. It's Mikey's sixteenth birthday and his father is taking him to Bowles's pub for his first pint" (McCourt 253).
This quote shows the theme seed coming of age because you were considered to be grown up and a man if you had your first pint of alcohol.
"The master says it's time to prepare for First Confession and First Communion, to know and remember all the questions and answers in the catechism, to become good Catholics, to know the difference between right and wrong, to die for the Faith if called on" (McCourt 113).
In the quote, Frank is beginning to prepare for his First Communion. This signifies the coming of age because he is getting older and growing into his faith, which is part of being a man.
"I want the job. I want to bring home the shilling. I want to be a man" (McCourt 261).
In this quote, Frank is arguing with his mother to allow him to keep delivering coal even though his eyes are being ruined in the process. Frank believes that having a job and bringing home the wages to support his family represents being all grown up, so that is what he is determined to accomplish.

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"It's July and school is over for forever.  In a few weeks I'll be delivering telegrams at the post office, working like a man." (McCourt, 297)
Frank is out of school and almost old enough to start working for wages in order take care of himself.  He is becoming more independent and is doing his best to not become his father, as he said he would avoid doing when he grew up previously in the book.
"I want them to know I'm like them, I'm a man, I have a pound.  I walk up one side of O'Connell Street and down the other and hope they'll notice me.  They don't.  I want to wave my pound note at the world so they'll say, There he goes, Frankie McCourt the workingman, with a pound in his pocket." (314, McCourt)
Frank just got his first paycheck and is very excited to go and spend it to prove to the world he is a contributor.  He is excited to provide for his family, Michael especially because he then proceeds to take him out and feed him, like his father almost never did with him.
"(...) I love Theresa.  I love her as much as you love any bird or beast or fish and will you tell God take the consumption away and I promise I'll never go near her again." (325, McCourt)
Frank's first girlfriend and the person he lost his virginity to is sick with the consumption. He is showing maturity because he is praying for someone other than himself and also, losing your virginity is a coming of age thing in most cultures

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"Did you write that composition? I did, sir. I'm taken out of the fifth class and put into Mr. O'Halloran 's sixth class with all the boys I know"  (McCourt 206). In this quote Frank is moved up a grade for an essay he wrote called "Jesus and the Weather" through which he shows his capability of abstract thought. Being capable of abstract though comes with growing up and can therefore be considered part of one's "coming of age".

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It's dark on Atlantic Avenue and all the bars around the Long Island Railroad Station are bright and noisy. We go from bar to bar looking for Dad. Mam leaves us outside with the pram while she goes in or she sends me. There are crowds of noisy men and stale smells that remind me of Dad when he comes home with the smell of whiskey on him.

The man behind the bar says, Yeah, sonny, whaddya want? You're not supposeta be in here, y'know.
I'm looking for my father. Is my father here?" (McCourt 26-27).
-  Frank was introduced to the adult world at an early age to where he would go into bars and knowing what Whiskey is at a young age, due to his father's irresponsible behavior.
2.

"Grandma says to Mam, Your brother Pat, bad leg an' all, was selling papers all over Limerick by the time he was eight and that Frank of yours is big and ugly enough to work.
But he's only nine and still in school.
School. 'Tis school that has him the way he is talkin' back and goin' around with the sour puss an' the odd manner like his father" (McCourt 173).
- Grandma urged Frank to grow up quickly. Without being affected by the child labor laws and school attendance laws in effect at the time, lots of Limerick boys had to contribute economically to the family, especially Frank because his main worry would usually be his family and worrying will dad come home with money or does he have to look for him again. And Frank also cares for his brothers during these hard times.
3.
"On the way home I see myself in the glass of a shop window all black from the coal, and I feel like a man, a man with a shilling in his pocket, a man who had a lemonade in a pub with two coal men and a lime man. I'm not a child anymore and I could easily leave Leamy's school forever, ... and my mother wouldn't have to be a beggar at the Redemptorist priests' house" (McCourt 261).

-  young rank wants nothing more than to grow up fast so he can bring money home to his family because father never really did. Frank is becoming more responsible in thinking and caring for other besides himself and he is proud to look like a coal man with money in his pocket.

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"Still, I'm ready to spend my life in this library reading about virgins and virgin martyrs till I get into trouble with Mrs. O'Riordan over a book someone left on the table"(page 2014).
* This shows coming of age because Frank's advancement of his reading skills and conquering subjects in Literature that even the librarian is surprised by shows his progression from childhood and adulthood.

"On the way home I see myself in the glass of a shop window all black from coal, and I feel like a man, a man with a shilling in his pocket, a man who had a lemonade in a pub with two coal men and a lime man. I'm not a child anymore and I could easily leave Lenny's School forever" (page 261).
* This shows coming of age because Frank is proud about the work he is doing and the pay he has received for it. Since Frank was very young at the beginning of the book, he dreamed of the day he walked home with money in his pocket to provide for himself and his family after a long day of work, so finally earning his wages from Mr. Hannon symbolizes a boy turned into a man.

"That's a sin I could never tell a priest. Climbing to great heights and going at yourself before all of Ireland is surely worse than doing it in a private place with yourself or with another or with some class of a beast" (page 299).
* This shows coming of age because the awakening of Frank's sexuality is a symbol of his childhood purity leaving and transitioning into adulthood.

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“I want the job. I want to bring home the shilling. I want to be a man.”

This quotes shows how frank has to grow up super fast and be the father figure in his household at a young age.

“Why should I squander money on stamps when I have two legs to deliver the letters myself?”

This quote shows how frank is growing up and realizing that he can do work himself by delivering letters and bringing home the money that his father is not.

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while”

This quote shows frank reflecting on his childhood and how bad I‎t was but also how I‎t allowed him to grow up and make something of his life when he came from nothing.

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"I look out at Mam at the kitchen table, smoking a cigarette, drinking a tea, and crying. I want to get up and tell her I'll be a man soon and I'll get a job in the place with the big gate and I'll come home every Friday night with money for eggs and toast and jam and she can sing Anyone can see why I wanted your kiss." (pg. 28)

In this passage, Frank feels like he has to grow up to take care of his family. Children should have the opportunity to be children.

"It's easier to stick the bread up under my jersey with the lemonade and promise to tell everything in confession." (pg. 236)

In this passage, Frank grapples with his conscience and guilt but also what he has to do to keep providing for his family. Frank is coming of age but too soon. He doesn't deserve to grow up faster than he needs to. Frank feels like he has to provide for his family at such a young age.

"I want the job. I want to bring home the shilling. I want to be a man." (pg. 261)

In this passage, Frank is dealing with severe eye infections while trying to work a coal job. His mother wants him to stop working but Frank's need to provide for his family and be a man who is better than his father is overwhelming. Frank's mom reassures him that there are other ways to be a man but Frank is determined to provide as a young boy.