Part V continues to offer examples of men in Grace’s life who behave despicably, usually towards women. In this case, the man in question is Grace’s own father, whose chronic alcoholism and abusive personality have traumatic effects on his family. According to Grace, her father unfairly blamed her mother for each additional pregnancy, and he proved unable to maintain the steady work required to support his quickly growing family. These failures on his part led the family to the point of such desperation that they were forced to leave Ireland and seek a new beginning in Canada. When Grace’s mother died on the boat, her father once again showed a lack of ability to support his children, leaving Grace to take care of her mother’s ocean burial and look after her siblings’ well-being. And upon landing in Toronto, he quickly returned to the irresponsible lifestyle he’d followed back in Ireland. The despicable behavior of Grace’s father forced her to grow up quickly and shoulder a level of responsibility that she was perhaps too young to carry. It also provided Grace with an early model of how untrustworthy men can be.

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