"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.

“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.

 

 

"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.

-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. 

“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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.