Author's Style Analysis

       "Dad says I'll understand when I grow up. He tells me that all the time now and I want to be big like him so that I can understand everything. It must be lovely to wake up in the morning and understand everything. I wish I could be like all the big people in the church, standing and kneeling and praying and understanding everything.
       At the Mass people go up to the altar and the priest and the priest puts something into their mouths. They come back to their seats with their heads down, their mouths moving. Malachy says he's hungry and he wants some, too. Dad says, Shush, that's Holy Communion, the body and blood of Our Lord.
       [...]
       There's no use in asking more questions. If you ask a question they tell you it's a mystery, you'll understand when you grow up, be a good boy, ask your mother, ask your father, for the love o' Jesus leave me alone, go out and play." (Chapter 3, page 108)

It is very apparent that McCourt did not use quotation marks in his writing whenever someone speaks: "Malachy says he's hungry and he wants some, too" (108). It is usually someone's name and the word "says" and a sentence following it. However, despite that it did not have quotation marks, it did not deter my attention from what was happening. I have read so many books that had quotation marks and only a few have I read had no quotation marks (like this one and The Color Purple). It is impressive that even though the author did not use quotation marks, he still made the story flow and gave depth to the characters and himself. The story itself seemed more important than the subtraction of quotation marks for the characters' speech.
Another stylistic trait of the author that can be gathered from the selected passage above is how he delivered the story. He wrote his childhood life story in the present tense. Even though this story already happened in the past by the time he wrote it, he written it as if it was happening right now. For instance, above McCourt says, "They come back to their seats with their heads down, their mouths moving" (108). If it was past tense, it would have been "They came back to their seats with their heads down, their mouths were moving." Maybe McCourt wrote in present tense instead of past tense to make the story more surreal and to make readers believe that they are looking into the mind of a little boy, instead of an old adult.