Prohibition era

Prohibition is the backdrop to the McCourt family’s early years in New York and a turning point in the conditions surrounding Malachy’s drinking. The memoir links the era’s speakeasies with his access to alcohol, then contrasts that illicit trade with the drinking and poverty that persist after Prohibition ends.

Speakeasies and Malachy’s arrival

After escaping Ireland by cargo ship, Malachy reaches New York while Prohibition is in full swing. He initially believes he has gone to hell for his sins; discovering speakeasies changes his response, and he rejoices. The episode presents prohibition not as the disappearance of alcohol but as a change in where and how it can be obtained.

The family’s life also unfolds amid drinking’s ordinary consequences. Frank recalls his father returning from looking for work with the smell of whiskey and singing songs about Ireland’s suffering. The contrast between that performance and Angela’s demand for food makes the household’s immediate need plain: patriotic talk does not put food on the table.

Repeal and continuing hardship

When Prohibition ends, Angela calls it a sad day. Malachy goes around saloons offering to sweep floors or lift barrels in exchange for whiskey or beer. Sometimes he brings home scraps of free lunch, including rye bread, corned beef, and pickles; he drinks tea while the children eat. The repeal therefore changes his access to drink and can indirectly bring food home, but it does not provide dependable work or end hunger.

The children’s circumstances remain precarious. Frank remembers wishing he could escape into the sky and no longer hear Oliver and Eugene crying at night because they were hungry. Angela, worn out by caring for the boys, cries as well. Against that background, Malachy’s drinking is not an isolated habit: it recurs alongside unemployment, hunger, and Angela’s exhaustion, while the memoir keeps its effects on the household distinct from the legal history of Prohibition.

Memory beyond the era

The memoir’s later recollections show how strongly these early conditions persist in Frank’s account of family life. When he speaks to Saint Francis, he remembers Malachy singing Roddy McCorley and bringing home no money, as well as his later failure to send money from England. These memories extend the pattern of absence and deprivation beyond New York and beyond Prohibition itself.

The family eventually leaves New York for Ireland, and Frank later prepares to leave Ireland for America. His farewell is framed by the family’s tradition of the American wake, a gathering for someone departing so far away that relatives did not expect to see that person again. Prohibition is thus one element in a wider story of migration, poverty, and separation: its repeal marks a change in the drinking environment, not a resolution of the hardships that shaped the family’s life.