How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The man tells Dad, I can see you're a man that did his bit. Dad says, Och, I did my bit, and the man says, I did me bit, too, and what did it get me but one eye less and a pension that wouldn't feed a canary.
But Ireland is free, says Dad, and that's a grand thing.
Free, my arse, the man says. I think we were better off under the English. (2.53-55)
After all the fighting, death, and destruction, Mr. Heggarty, a former IRA soldier, expresses a pretty radical idea: that all the fighting against the English was for naught. So what was the point of all the fighting?
Quote #5
He stands in the middle of the lane and tells the world to step outside, he's ready to fight, ready to fight and die for Ireland, which is more than he can say for the men of Limerick, who are known the length and breadth of the world for collaborating with the perfidious Saxons. (3.144)
Calm down, Malachy. The war's over.
Quote #6
[F]or two thousand years men, women and children have died for the Faith, the Irish have nothing to be ashamed of in the martyr department. Haven't we provided martyrs galore? Haven't we bared our necks to the Protestant ax? Haven't we mounted the scaffold, singing, as if embarking on a picnic, haven't we, boys? (4.58)
The teachers at Frank's school are constantly reminding the boys about all the cruelties the Irish have endured. In this passage, the teacher focuses on religious martyrdom rather than dying for your country. These two things are inextricably bound together in the minds of the devoutly Catholic Irish people.