Hell - “First Confession"
Hell is emblematic of perpetual, excruciating anguish. Jackie recounts, “Then, to crown my misfortunes, I had to make my first confession and communion. It was an old woman called Ryan who prepared us for these…she came every day to school at three o'clock when we should have been going home, and talked to us of hell. She may have mentioned the other place as well, but that could only have been by accident, for hell had the first place in her heart.” Ryan lays emphasis on hell more than heaven to dishearten the children such as Jackie from involving sins that would upsurge their probabilities of going to hell. Ryan utilizes hell as an operant conditioner to intimidate against sins and to warrant scrupulous confessions. The children diagnose that ‘bad confessions’ are tantamount to signing up for the petrifying hell.
Brake - “The Drunkard”
A brake is emblematic of a cogent watchdog or chaperon. Larry clarifies, “There was no more to said, though we all knew I didn’t need anyone to look after me, and that I could quite well have stayed at home and looked after Sonny, but I was being attached to the party to act as a brake on Father. As a brake I had never achieved anything, but Mother still had great faith in me.” This remark comes after Larry’s mother enquires who would watch over Larry, and Mick Delanay affirms that he would take up the obligation. Perceptibly, it is Mick Delanay who deserves a brake that will control his engagements and forestall him from falling into the enticement of intoxication.
