The Drunkard

There was one quote from "The Drunkard" by Frank O'Connor that seemed to be significant. "My brave little man!' she said with her eyes shining. 'It was God did it you were there. You were his guardian angel" (O'Connor, 351). The mother wasn't even mad at the little boy for drinking his father's alcohol. She was disappointed in her husband for allowing her son to be in that environment. She was even more mad at her husband's negligence. However, she praised the boy for his good deed.

This quote was symbolic. He was his guardian angel, becuase he kept his father from drinking. He kept him from going back down that downward spiral that one drink causes. The boy's action even made the father stop drinking for good. "Never again, never again, not if I live to be a thousand" (O'Connor, 350). The humiliation that the boy put his father through made him come to a realization. The father had to have an awakening in order that he might not get in trouble with the police and keep his sons safe.