How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Is there anyone in this class that comes from a rich family with money galore to spend on shoes?
There are no hands.
He says, There are boys here who have to mend their shoes whatever way they can. There are boys in this class with no shoes at all. It's not their fault and it's no shame. Our Lord had no shoes. He died shoeless. Do you see him hanging on the cross sporting shoes? Do you boys? (3.106-108)
Frank's classmates make fun of him because of the crazy patch-job his father did on his shoes. Here's a rare instance of someone actually showing compassion for the poor kids. The teacher threatens to thrash anyone who jeers at Frank or Malachy because of their clothes. It works—the boys stop teasing them. Maybe bringing up the religious angle helped the teacher make his point stick.
Quote #5
Paddy Clohessy has no shoe to his foot, his mother shaves his head to keep the lice away, his eyes are red, his nose is always snotty. The sores on his kneecaps never heal because he picks at the scabs and puts them in his mouth. His clothes are rags he has to share with his six brothers and a sister and when he comes to school with a bloody nose or a black eye you know he had a fight over the clothes that morning. (4.51)
Frankie knows there are some people even worse off than his family, as hard as that is to believe. Paddy's a prime example of what's it like to be dirt poor. This passage is a good illustration of McCourt showing in high-def the effects of poverty. His descriptions are so stark, in fact, that some of McCourts' neighbors and acquaintances were angry about the depiction of the Limerick slums. (Source)
Quote #6
You never know when you might come home and find Mam sitting by the fire with a woman and child, strangers. Always a woman and child. Mam finds them wandering the streets and if they ask, Can you spare a few pennies, miss? Her heart breaks. She never has money so she invites them home for tea and a bit of fried bread and if it's a bad night she'll let them sleep by the fire in a pile of rags in the corner. The bread she gives them always means less for us and if we complain she says there are always people worse off and we can surely spare a little from what we have. (5.5)
This reminds Shmoop of the ending of The Grapes of Wrath: the almost destitute helping the totally destitute. Only the desperately poor truly appreciate the experience of desperate poverty. Frankie gets an important lesson in charity. His brother Mikey's as soft-hearted as Mam, and he brings home stray animals and sick old men. McCourt's emphasis on "always a woman and child" suggests that there are plenty of families with an alcoholic or deserting husband, and Angela can sure relate to that.