Angela’s Ashes: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

The next day, Frank wakes up in Ab Sheehan’s house. Ab gives him money to buy bread, tea, and milk. At the grocery store, Frank thinks about his future. He’ll have a job at the telegram office soon, meaning that he’ll have his own money. He’ll be able to buy newspapers and check out library books, and perhaps get his own place to stay.

For the next few months, Frank stays with Ab Sheehan. Angela and Michael visit him and ask him to come back to Laman’s house, but Frank, still angry, refuses. He imagines making money for himself and giving it to Michael, so that Michael will be able to own a proper pair of boots.

Frank begins going on long walks. When he’s alone in the forests outside Limerick, he masturbates—a sin he’s afraid to confess to priests. Sometimes, when he walks around early in the morning, he’s able to feed himself—the milkman offers him broken eggs, which he always accepts and eats raw. Sometimes he also steals bread, which deliverymen have dropped off in fancy houses early in the morning. Frank takes the bread home to Ab Sheehan, who accepts it without question.

Frank continues reading the Lives of the Saints. He learns bizarre, sometimes explicit details about the saints—details his teachers never shared. Saint Ursula, for example, supposedly allowed 11,000 people to be murdered instead of agreeing to marry a Hun. Frank becomes confused by God’s rules—it seems strange that Ursula could be a saint after allowing innocent people to be killed. He reads books about Chinese culture that discuss the free sexuality of the Chinese. The librarian refuses to let Frank read more than a few of these books, as she claims that the Chinese are an evil, “slanty-eyed” race.

Frank is about to turn fourteen. He’s found a job at the telegram office, which he’ll be able to start after his birthday. He prepares for his job by washing his clothes, which he’s stained from a wet dream, and grooming himself in front of a mirror. Because Frank is waiting for his clothing to dry, he’s forced to wear the only other clothing he can find in Ab’s home—an old dress that once belonged to Margaret Sheehan. The next morning, he wakes up to find that his clothes still aren’t dried—as a result, he’s forced to walk to the grocery store in his grandmother’s dress. Dozens of people giggle and laugh at him. During his walk to the store, Frank crosses paths with Aunt Aggie, who laughs at his ridiculous appearance. Nevertheless, when Frank explains to her that he’s about to begin a job and start making money for himself, she replies, “That’s more than your father would do.”