Preview

The Butcher Boy

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
752 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Butcher Boy
The Butcher Boy: an overlooked gem

Over the years, numerous directors have portrayed childhood in film, and some of them have done so in an extremely affecting and poignant way. Films like Francois
Truffuaut’s 400 blows or Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander have left their mark on film history, partly because the directors dared to present childhood as a period of great insecurity and unhappiness, and not as the most idyllic period of one’s life. “The Butcher boy”, a film directed by the irish director Neil Jordan in 1997, is a rather overlooked film, that rarely appears in film critics’ lists of great films. Yet, this film is a masterful portrayal of a disturbed childhood, dominated by great unhappiness and loss.

“The Butcher Boy” is based on irish author Patrick Mc Cabe’s highly-praised and controversial novel of the same name. It tells the story of young Francie Brady, a teenage
Irish boy, living in a small town in western Ireland in the 60’s. Francie is a free-spirited and wildly imaginative boy with a passion for comic books. Unfortunately, his carefree adolescence is stigmatized by the tragic circumstances of his family life. His father is struggling with alcoholism and his mother is mentally disturbed, and eventually commits suicide. The boy has never been shown any real tenderness because both of his parents were overwhelmed by their own misery. His mother’s suicide is enough to drive the already fragile Francis to his limits. From that point on, the boy slowly descends into madness, as he is filled with feelings of rage and aggressiveness. This aggressiveness is soon directed toward Ms Nugent, a neighbour of the Bradies, who has always been extremely critical of
Francie because of his lack of “proper” manners and his undignified family situation, often referring to the boy and his family as

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    As this story unravels, the reader is able to observe the changing of a relationship, tradition, and young man. While reading, each character appears equally content, yet neither is truly pleased. The root of the unhappiness in each character is due to the change that has occurred in Joe and in their tradition. While his father accepts his change of mind, he is quite obviously offended and most likely feels hurt by Joe’s decision. On the other hand, Joe expresses sorrowfulness. This leaves the reader’s mind focused on the past, when the relationship was ideal and each character was happy; reminiscing in the…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In my father was a writer memoir, Andre Dubus III was young when events in his life starts to mold him. Starting early moving to different places having three other siblings and one parent that was a captain in the military. At the time his father was depressed and didn’t enjoy being a captain in the military in Andre’s eyes. After Andre granddad passed away it was an instant change in the family. Andre dad retired from being a commander in the marines. In Andre’s eyes, his daddy became happier, he started to enjoy life more than he did in the past. Andre dad starts to show them more attention and starts to treat them better. Andre parent started having parties at the time he couldn’t understand the reason for them celebrating. Just absorbing the atmosphere at an early age trying to listen and figure things out. Finally, his dad threw a party that confirmed his suspicions. When Andre saw his father showing other writers his failed novel he knew right then that his dad was a writer. After his father published his first book he landed a small college job in Massachusetts and eventually had to move but it wasn’t long before they had to move again not far but closer to New Hampshire border. He was nine at the time. It…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Parenthood Movie Review

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The main character had a terrible relationship with his father. They didn’t see eye to eye at all. The father just took him to baseball games and left him there with an usher that he paid to watch him. The absence of a father figure was significant to his childhood. When he grew up he tried to be anything but that memory. He was involved in his children’s lives. This would be a family theme where the parent separates themselves from the child, so they could attend to their own matters in life. The next theme can be seen in the family that has the young girl being feed information like a sponge ruining her childhood so she could get ahead intellectually. The parents did not see her as a child but as some sort of machine. It is not the proper way to raise a child. She was socially awkward and didn’t have the social skills to socialize with the other children at Kevin’s birthday party. This theme is where the parents treat the child as an object rather than a living being. The next one is in the single mom with the two kids. She struggles to support for her family and her children disrespect her all the time. The son was so distant from her and left all the time, while the daughter was in love with a troubled boy. The son was having problems with himself since she went through puberty and he didn’t have a father figure to explain all the changes in his body and while he was feeling certain things. Todd became that father figure when he married the boy’s sister and got to explain what was happening through experience. This helped out the single mother trying to support her two children. The youngest son and brother of Gil the main character displayed the same type of parenting as the grandfather did with Gil, abandoning his child and dumping him with whoever would take care of him.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    an identity crisis. He was constantly reminded of the disappointment he was to his father, and started to…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Butcher's Tale

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The thesis of this book is the matter of bigotry engrained in a society that turns into mass hysteria directed toward the subjects of such bigotry.…

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    poverty stricken life filled with a stepfather with a very abrasive outlook on life (1)…

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is simple to blame a child’s upbringing when something goes wrong in their teenage and adult life. However, both Wes Moore’s had a similar childhood, yet still ended up with different fates. For example, both of them had absent fathers and were…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He is mainly worried for himself when his father is not around. When the boy was sick he tells his father, “Don’t go away” (247). When his father is dying, the boy tells him: “Just take me with you. Please” (279). He feels as if he cannot survive in such a horrible world without the love and support of his father. The boy eventually finds other “good guys” and realizes it is best for him to move on in the world and not give up.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The variety of films mentioned aims to provide an extensive inquiry into both modern and traditional films. To substantiate this inquiry, an article by Paste Magazine has been supplemented, containing some of the most well-known and endorsed films of the 21st century. The logic behind including an article of this nature is to examine mainstream/dominant culture as it communicates the disposition and context of…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beautiful Boy Application

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages

    At age 4 Nic’s parents got divorced. That was during the Preschool stage, where the conflict is Initiative vs. Guilt. In this stage children need to begin asserting control and power over their environment. Nic was doing well in this stage and the school age stage as well. His grades well good, he had friends and was active and involved in sports. His father thought that Nic was coping well because he was doing so well in school and playing sports. “Nic was excelling in school and I could have been happier.” (30) However related to Preschool stage – Nic was able to control his grades, and his activities therefore he was about to successfully show his power.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Sunny Skyland

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This book is about a 13 year-old girl name Sunny Skyland who lives in Nebraska . Sunny Skyland is a foster child who has been through many foster homes since her mom, dad, and grandma had passed away. Sunny has been separated from her twin sister for 13 years, not knowing that she had one all along. When she and her sister got separated at the age of three her twin starr grows up not remembering she had a twin sister. But Sunny has some remembrance of someone that used to play with her when she was young.…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cronus: A Classic Myth

    • 206 Words
    • 1 Page

    His mother was outraged when he did not save his brothers, so she put a horrible fate on him.…

    • 206 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    St Francis

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As a child Francis was given the minimal education that was available. Francis was always read to and wrote very little. “As an adult, he was considered ‘a man without learning’” (Pg 17). Francis also grew up with little supervision so he lived a carefree life. One of the first major struggles in Francis’ life was when he was thrown into a dungeon and ransomed out to his father. Francis became ill and “spent many weeks in bed” (pg.24). Francis was quite friendly to the other prisoners while being held in the dungeon.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Other Wes Moore

    • 344 Words
    • 1 Page

    Wes Moore was a normal boy who lived in Brooklyn, New York, until his whole life was flipped around when his father died. Wes did not think of his dad as a father, but more like an older brother. He was not afraid to share what he felt with his father; because he knew everything would be alright while his father was around. Wes’s relationship with his father was like a kid that has a teddy bear; he did not want to do anything without him.…

    • 344 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays