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Curtis Hernandez
April 8, 2016
Ms. Day
British Literature
Frank O'Connor
Frank O'Connor's childhood is relevant in many of his stories. His dad was an alcoholic
which ruined Frank's relationship with him throughout Frank's whole life. The father thought that
reading rather than wrestling is a feminine trait. O'Connor was forever changed by the negative
comments about his masculinity made by his father, and it showed through his stories. In the
stories "First Confession" and "My Oedipus Complex," Frank O'Connor's aspects of his
childhood are portrayed through the characters Jackie and Larry.
Born in 1903, O'Connor defied convention to become a writer. Frank's mother and father
were Minnie O'Connor and Michael O'Donovan. O'Connor's real name is Michael Francis
O'Connor O'Donovan. He changed it later on when he became a full-time writer instead of being
a business man. As a child, O'Connor's mother, Minnie was the head of the household, and she
took care of the family. While his mother was working hard, the father, Michael, was a drunken
addict which caused the family to fall on hard times and caused the family hardship. The mother
was a big part of his life because she was the more responsible parent in the household and Frank
looked up to her as an idol. In Irish tradition, it was common to have a better relationship with
the mother. Importantly, the hatred for his father was very apparent throughout his life and it
showed in his writings. The strong relationship with his mother affected his future relationships
including his marriage. As O'Connor grew up, he became part of the Irish Republican Army and
was against British rule. He was a small writer for the forces and was imprisoned for a year at
Gormanstown camp. At the end of his service in the army, he decided to change his name and
become a real writer. He changed his name so that he did not lose his credibility as a public

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official. He was planning to change it back after his writings, but he became popular so he
decided not to. This is shown in the interview with Frank O'Connor and Anthony Whittier.
Frank O'Connor portrayed his hatred of his father and his ruined relationships through
"The First Confession." In "The First Confession," the author writes about a child named Jackie
who was confessing his sins for the first time. He was nervous about this confession but then he
finally confessed. The confession should be shocking to the reader because he confessed that he
attempted to kill his grandmother and sister. He tried to kill them because he was embarrassed by
his grandmother and his sister who teased him all the time. This story clearly reflects his early
life because of the family problems that his character had. As a child, Frank's father teased and
made rude comments just like the grandmother and sister in the story. Frank's father teased him
all the time about his masculinity because he would rather read than go out and play. O'Connor's
father's idea of masculinity was play sports, roll in the mud, or do "boy things" and O'Connor
was the opposite of that. Frank stayed home and read which made his father upset. Jackie is the
representation of the author and the feelings that the kid feels towards the grandmother and the
sister is the same feeling Frank feels for his father. It clearly shows that in his life he disliked his
father very much because he completely changed his name from Michael O'Donovan to Frank
O'Connor which was his middle name and his mother's maiden name. The hatred Frank had
towards his father was expressed through the character Jackie. It is not said how much he hated
his father but "The First Confession" could be the feelings he once had toward his father.
The other way "The First Confession" can be compared to Frank O'Connor's life is in the
destruction of relationships. Throughout Frank's life, the relationships he had were mostly
destructive because of his father and his strong bond with his mother. His father is the first
relationship that was destroyed and is reflected in the story "The First Confession". This is
demonstrated by the relationships with the people that Jackie interacts with which are

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destructive. The first two relationships are the grandmother and the sister which are very
destructive relationships. The relationship that represents the most destructive relationship of
Frank is the one with his father. The relationship of the grandmother and sister represent the
hatred that Frank had with his father. The story describes a destructive relationship because that
is what Frank grew up with. The other relationship is the one with the priest which represents the
relationship he has with his mother. The relationships are very similar because both of them
agree that the other relationships are bad. The priest at the end of the story understands why
Jackie wants to kill the grandmother and the sister because they are annoying. The relationship of
the priest and Jackie is the same relationship of Frank and his mother because they both knew
that the father is a bad person. This is a bad relationship because each of the relationships are
based on hatred of other people. This relationship of Frank and his mother are not just based on
hatred, but in this story it is focused on relationships based on hatred.
Another story that compares Frank's life is "My Oedipus Complex" through relationships
and hatred of Frank's father. "My Oedipus Complex" is about a character Larry who is envious of
his father because he takes all of his mother's attention. At the start of the story, his father was in
the army during World War 1 and Larry had the attention of the mother all the time. When the
father came back, he became jealous of his father because now the mother put all of her attention
on his father. The first way this story can be compared to is the hatred of the father which is very
much like "First Confession". The hatred of the father is very apparent in "My Oedipus
Complex" and it is because of the attention shift of his mother changed from Larry to the Father.
The hatred of Frank's father is different because Frank hates him because his father teases him
and gets drunk instead of taking the attention of his mother. They are also similar because Frank
and Larry thought that they were both better than their fathers. Larry thought he was better than
his father and Frank knew that his father was a bad influence. They also both thought that their

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father was bad for their mother because of how they treated their wives. Larry is a very good
depiction of Frank because it shows how much of his childhood was affected by his father. Frank
writes this story with a heavy influence in that he makes the father a bad character. At the end of
the story, the father experiences the same lack of attention that Larry had. This can be interpreted
in the way Frank begins to understand what his father is going through and he has matured. This
could be one reason why he wrote this into the story and this is relatable to his real life.
The other way this story can be compared is through the relationship with his mother.
Frank had a strong relationship with his mother because she took care of him and this is the same
reason why Larry had a strong relationship with his mother. This strong relationship can be
unhealthy as shown in the story and in Frank's life. In the story, Larry gets jealous of his father
and acts very irrational. In Frank's life, the relationship of his mother affected his future
relationships with women and eventually led to the downfall of his marriage. This story is a
direct representation of his life.
Frank O'Connor shows much of his real life problems in his stories. The major problems
he shows are the hatred he has towards his father and the failure of all relationships. His life was
a major influence in his writings and the characters Frank wrote are direct interpretations of
Frank during his life. Frank is a great author and without the many obstacles in his life, he would
not have become the well-know author he is today.

Work Cited
"CYC-Net: CYC-Online." CYC-Net: CYC-Online. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
"Frank O'Connor." -New World Encyclopedia. Web. 25 Apr. 2016
O'Connor, Frank. "First Confession." Https://www2.bc.edu/john-g-boylan/files/firstconfession.pdf. Web.
"The Paris Review. " Paris Review. Web. 25 Apr. 2016

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