Angela's Ashes Lesson Plan

How do you understand Frank's idea that "my father is like the Holy Trinity with three people in him"?

Frank knows that his father has done terrible, damaging things to their family with his alcoholism, leaving them in horrific poverty. However, his father does seem to love his sons. He loves to read with Frank in the morning and tells the children stories in the evening. Frank struggles to understand how he can both love his father and hold him responsible for what he does to the family. The way that Frank can understand this dichotomy is if his father is both the same person and different people at once, like the Holy Trinity. Ask students to consider personal connections...