Loss Of Dignity In Malachy's

I find it strange that even though Malachy drinks his wages away and doesn’t try hard getting a job, he still talks about dignity. He would say, “If you carry… [parcels, bags, and packages], you lose your dignity.” This gives me a feeling that Malachy is not completely hopeless, and may one day see the fault in his actions, and that when Malachy is trying hard, there are enjoyable times in the family. Nevertheless, this behavior can still be frustrating because when you want Malachy to help, if he feels that the situation may damage his dignity, he won’t do it. I can relate to this slightly because there are plenty of times when I want people to do something for me, but they won’t do it and I get vexed. However, there are still times that I am happy when I interact with them.

In addition, more evidence of the strangeness of Malachy is shown when in the book it states, “… [Malachy says] it’s a disgrace that the Irish throw out millions of potato skins every day… there’s nourishment in the shell of an egg since waste is the eighth deadly sin.” This demonstrates Malachy’s unusual eating