First Confession

A detailed Summary of First Confession

This story by Frank O'Connor focuses on a little seven year old boy that has conflicts within himself about going to his first confession. The main characters in the story are Jackie a seven-year old boy, an old woman named Ryan, and a priest. Jackie's grandmother comes to live with his family and she is quite different from any women Jackie has been around. She drinks beer, takes snuff, and walks around the house barefoot. To Jackie and his mother this is not very lady like. Jackie will not eat his grandmother's cooking and one time he had to hide under the table while his mother was gone to avoid eating it. He hid under the table with a butter knife yelling and threatening his sister Nora because she tried to get him out from under the table. At Jackie's school there is an old woman named Ryan that tries to educate the students about their first confessi

III). Study Question: Is Jackie's confession a "good" one? Whose religion seems more appealing, Mrs. Ryan or the priest's?

I think this story really shows this little boys conflict within himself. In some way or another everyone influences him. This story shows how the actions and voices of adults can really affect children. Jackie was so scared of confession because the old woman Ryan said horrible things to put the fear of god in him and the other children. After trying to get Jackie or one of the other kids to put their finger in a flame to show them about hell she says, "All eternity! Just think of that! A whole lifetime goes by and it's nothing, not even a drop in the ocean of your suffering" (361). I know that many people have tried to use the fear of god to make children do the right thing but I do not agree with it. I think the priest's approach was so much

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Approximate Word count = 595
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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First Confession

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