Summary

Chapter 17. When Frank is about to turn 16, Pa Keating takes him to the pub for his first pint, as is the custom in Ireland. While there, they discuss World War II and the sadness of Hitler’s concentration camps. Frank, who gets drunk, starts a fight later with Angela about Laman Griffin, and slaps her “so the tears jump in her eyes and there’s a small whimpering sound in her.”

The next day, when a troubled Frank goes to the Franciscan church, a priest named Father Gregory asks Frank what is troubling him. Frank tells Father Gregory about his father, about hitting his mother, about Theresa, and about the unfairness of the concentration camps. Father Gregory tells Frank he should forgive himself, and reassures him that God has forgiven him and Theresa is in heaven.

Angela gets a job working in the home of...