Malachy takes it straight down to the bar and blows the lot, leaving his wife and children at home with no food, no coal in the fire, no clothes and no milk for the new baby.
Frank, the eldest child, is sent to the bar to shame the father into coming home. But when he gets there and sees his drunk dad he can't bring himself to do it in that confused state of loyalty, anger, pity and love that children have for their fathers.
Frank starts off the film by saying "Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." Roman Catholicism is present throughout the film, presented in much of its complexity. Priests do funerals in Latin, which brings both solemnity and exclusion to the event. First communion for Frank and his nine-year-old friends is a huge event for the family, but to the kids is only huge because it provides them with the opportunity to collect some money for their first visit to the cinema. Confused catholic theology is highlighted when Frank is sick after communion, and his grandmother is scared stiff that he has thrown up Jesus into the back yard.
Frank's mother, Angela, is often shown queuing at the poor house, the charity of St Vincent, for food or clothes or furniture, where those dispensing the charity are often less than charitable in their attitudes. The father refuses to take any charity, and won't even pick up stray coal from the streets.
The school is a mixture of brutality and kindness in the teachers. They recognise the injustice of boys not having shoes and won't stand any teasing about it, and yet spend much of their time whacking the pupils with leather belts. Religion is ever present in daily school life.
Frank's father decides, or is cajoled, to move to England to work in a munitions factory. The war is on, and work is plentiful. He goes, but never sends back any money. He doesn't return when he says he will.