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Table of Contents

MacDonald’s Developing Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 3

Transition Number 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 6

Family Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 7

Transition Number 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 10

Role of MacDonald’s Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 11

Transition Number 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 15

Fitting In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 16

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 18

  3  

Antonio Bastos

Professor Halprin

Expository Writing

February 29, 2012

MacDonald’s Developing Identity

Michael Macdonald, the author of a memoir, Easter Rising, is a dynamic

character that tries many different things to develop his own identity. When living in

Southie, Macdonald always follows everything his older brother, Kevin, wanted to do

and acted like Kevin. As the story progresses Macdonald begins to realize that there’s

more to life then what he had in Southie. Things happen and people change around

Macdonald. His attitude towards his life, goals, and identity begin to change when he

takes situations in his own hands.

The book starts off immediately with a quote from Macdonald talking about his

life in Southie. “I learned to jump subway fares by tagging along with my brother Kevin

and his friends on shoplifting ventures outside the project.” As Macdonald opens the

book with this line, it shows that Macdonald doesn’t have a say in anything he does in

Southie. His idea of his own identity is what his brother does on a daily basis. As the

book progresses Macdonald started to question himself on what was beyond Southie and

  4  

why Kevin only wanted to stay in Southie. “Kevin and his friends didn’t care about

leaving Southie except on scamming missions – they never went just to wander. And I

could never get my own friends to leave the project, so it wasn’t long before I was

venturing alone to see the strange lands and strange people beyond Southie’s borders.”

Macdonald tries to emphasize that he doesn’t want to live in Southie anymore; he wants

to eventually go out beyond the project and wander about. This shows how is Identity is

starting to develop. He’s making decisions on his own behalf now instead of tagging

along everywhere his brother goes.

As the story progresses, Macdonald runs into many obstacles that puts his identity

to the test which either results in his identity changing for the best or for the worst.

Tragedies happen to Macdonald such as his brother, Davey, committing suicide and his

sister Kathy being in a critical condition. These tragedies make Macdonald realize he’s

becoming his own person. Macdonald has his own ways of dealing with Davey and

Kathy’s condition. He begins to realize that he’s maturing a lot faster then he can cope

with. He now starts to do things on his own and in his own way he thinks is right. For an

example, he chooses to travel to New York City. While in New York City he chooses to

try and enroll in a college. This choice that he made shows that he’s matured over time

and his identity has changed. Just like in real life situations, if you had to deal with the

people and situations that Macdonald has to deal with on a day-to-day basis, such as his

  5  

family and friends, you would be forced to mature and change a lot quicker than you can

even realize.

All in all, Macdonald’s identity starts out from being a follower into being a

leader to a certain extent. He has no one following his decisions, for an example when he

bought the sex pistols album; on his way home he hid the album in his shirt so no one

would see. Which means he’s a leader in his own mind in determining what his identity

is. Many situations throughout the memoir put Macdonald attitude and identity to the

test. He has to deal with tragedies and friends who don’t back up anything he stands for.

In conclusion Macdonald, being a dynamic character because of his changing attitude and

identity, changes how he looks at life and how he approaches all situations from here on

out.

  6  

Transition

Macdonald went through different situations in his life that dealt with his attitude

but most importantly, his family. Family plays a big and an important role in Easter

Rising, written by Michael Macdonald. There are not only many tragedies that happen to

MacDonald’s family life, but Family Crisis’ also. He has to deal with situations that

happen, such as family deaths, his mother not parenting correctly, and forcing himself to

mature twice as quickly as everyone else. He has to persevere and work through all his

problems that he encounters, when dealing with his family. With all the family problems

that he had to face, he quickly learned that he shouldn’t go through life, he should grow

through life. Learning from mistakes his brothers and sister made he ended up growing

up more quickly then he even thought. Macdonald’s maturing mentality relates to my

own mentality that I’ve grown. Macdonald is not the only one that had to go through a

family crisis at such a young age. At a young age I went through a family crisis that

resulted in the separation of my parents, which affected my mentality towards school,

sports, and most importantly, the meaning of family. Just like Macdonald, I needed to

grow up quickly and move on from the things that were happening around me. Things got

hard once in a while and I needed a break from all the things happening. Just like

Macdonald, I tried to keep it all inside and fix everything myself, but in the end none of it

worked and I had a couple breakdowns. Family crisis’ are serious, especially when you

grow up around your parents and you are so close to them, that you consider them two of

your best friends.

  7  

Family Crisis: Parents’ Divorce

Two months after moving into our family’s dream home we were finally getting

settled and everything had been moved and set in its final place. Me, being just ten years

of age, and my brother being only seven years old, we were as happy as could be until I

ran into a problem. I was running down my hallway towards the garage; when I suddenly

stopped and heard both my parents agree on selling the house. I immediately opened the

door and asked why they would ever want to sell a house that we just moved into. My

mother sat my brother and I down and told us she fell out of love with my father. She had

continued to tell my brother and I a lot of excuses to try and make us agree and not be

mad at her. That day, in my eyes, was the worst day of my life considering the

tragedy/crisis that just happened to me.

The divorce played a huge role on my personality and morals. As much as the

divorce could pull me in two different directions, my whole life I thought it as a crisis

that happened. As years moved forward and experiences between both parents happened

I began to realize my life was changed dramatically. When it first happened, I was young

and I only thought of the whole situation as being just a phase or a stage my mom was

going through. As I grew older I became to realize that it wasn’t just a stage, it was now

apart of my life. In my eyes, I thought of it as a tragedy.

  8  

The way I grew up and the way I was raised was based on Christian morals, so

getting a divorce was considered a sin. So the way I took it, was my mom shying away

from the religion that I grew following, and that hurt me. Everyday of my childhood I

was always happy to come home to see my parents because they were always happy and

my house was always a positive home to be in, until that day where everything changed.

Everything felt as though it was falling and crumbling down. My relationship started

from then on to change with my mom.

My dad and I always had a great relationship where he would tell me everything

and I would tell him everything. My mom and I always had a good relationship also until

the divorce came along. As I was growing older I started wanting to see my dad more and

more due to the fact that my mom starting dating someone else. I didn’t agree with my

mom decisions then and I still don’t now. As years went on and I started to mature and

started to observe how my mom and dad both reacted and adapted to the situation I

realized my mom was definite on her decision to divorce my dad.

I consider this a tragedy in my life because of the fact that I thought my mom and

dad were perfect for each other. They never once fought, got into an argument, or

disagreed on anything. They were always happy and content with each other. I never

thought that this kind of situation would happen in my life, especially to my parents who

always got along.

This crisis wasn’t just a yearlong and then I got over it, it has a lifetime affect on

my emotions and me. Even to this day, I barely go over my mom’s house because I

  9  

usually stay at my dad’s house. My mom and I have been drifting further and further

apart because of the fact that everything she says and does I think is a lie because of the

divorce. Since I went off to college, every time I go home I always stay at my fathers

house because I feel as though, my dads house is a better and more positive environment

for me to be living at. Every time I’m home from school my mom and I always get into

debates or disagreements about the smallest things. Our relationship, in the past year, has

grown further and further apart. On the other hand, my dad and I have grown closer

because every time my mom and I get into a little of a debate, I always go straight to my

dad and vent my feelings and idea about the situation at hand.

All and all back about eight years ago my brother and I experienced a crisis and a

tragedy, to a certain extent, that happened to us. From that day forward the tragedy

affected everything I did in life from there on out. In life, things change and people

change, but the way I was brought up and raised, you were supposed to marry the person

you love and you made a vow to love, cherish, and be with that person forever through

thick and thin and my mom decided to break that vow and move on. In conclusion, the

divorce that I had to be put through at such a young age, taught me and made me realize

that I had to learn how to deal with situations differently. My mom created a crisis in my

brother and my life.

  10  

Transition

As you read my last chapter hopefully you became to realize how much my

family crisis affected me in the end. Even still to this day I’m not the same person I was

today because my family plays a huge and a very important role in my life, and still do to

this day. I go to my family for everything and anything I need or want. My family acts as

a second me, you could say. I need my family for everything, and I would not replace my

family with anyone else for even a minute. I think family is a very important aspect of

anybody’s lives and no one should take for granted for one second of what their family

does or doesn’t do for them. Anything your parents or siblings do for you, good or bad, is

out of love and the best for you. People don’t realize how important a family is until you

read Michael MacDonald’s memoir, Easter Rising. Michael Macdonald quickly learns

how to cherish his own family while they are still around. His loses many family

members over the course of his life; he has to mature so quick that he doesn’t know what

to do in his life because he’s so worried about his family and about losing more members

of his family. His family plays a huge role in his life and affects MacDonald’s life

decisions over the course of his lifetime. As a young kid, Macdonald went through life

changing situations that he had to deal with while being in school and also hearing it all

the time from his friends.

  11  

Role of Macdonald’s Family

Family plays a big and an important role in anyone’s life no matter what the

situation. In Easter Rising, Michael Macdonald’s memoir, Macdonald has gone through a

lot thus far in his life. His brother Davey committed suicide and his sister Kathy went

into a coma for four months. Macdonald also has to take care of his two younger siblings,

therefore he has a lot to deal with at a young age. As his life progresses he begins to enter

stages of life where he doesn’t know what he actually likes or what he is. In the end, he

knows his family is all he needs and will carry him through everything that happens

throughout life.

Macdonald being at such of a young age when Davey committed suicide,

Macdonald began to become unstable and didn’t know what to do with anything. He

went through a phase of trying to avoid his friends and everything else in life because of

the whole Davey tragedy. MacDonald doesn’t know how to deal with this tragedy at all

so he avoids situations and migrates to the punk rock scene. Music, in this case, sort of

acts like his savior to tragedies. Macdonald’s mom is affected greatly and more than

Michael actually is. Michael begins to get more and more into punk music and all the

  12  

changes and different styles and music that Michael starts to get into are because of

something’s that happened within or about his family.

While Macdonald was trying to grow up dealing with Davey’s death and his

friends always asking him what happened and what’s wrong with his family, he also has

to deal with the fact that his mother doesn’t pay much attention to him. As a young kid

with situation that Macdonald goes through, he needs guidance, support, and morals to

get through everything and still maintain a good head on your shoulders. As his life

progresses, Macdonald then begins to start skipping school and making decision’s that

the normal Macdonald wouldn’t normally decide on. Since Macdonald’s mother has

many kids to watch and to take care of but I feel as though Macdonald, more than anyone

else, needs his mom there to actually be there to mother him.

While one of Macdonald’s brothers commits suicide by jumping off a building,

not too much later his sister, Kathy, ends up “falling” off the top of a building and put in

critical condition. When she fell off the building they found various amount of pills and

drugs in her purse and her boyfriend was on the building with her and he ran down and

told her mother that she “fell” off. Macdonald now feels like this is the last straw, he

needs to get away from all the tragedies that are happening to his life and fulfill his dream

of leaving South Boston and venturing out.

  13  

Since he wants to leave South Boston and he is such a big fan of punk music,

Macdonald ends up going to New York City to follow a band there and watch their

shows. He ends up loving the city and convinced to join an online school while he’s

there. This is beginning to look like a new beginning for MacDonald until he goes back

to South Boston to all of his tragedies and old friends that he was ignoring. When Kathy

woke up from the coma and the Doctor declared her out of a ‘critical condition’

MacDonald started to realize that Punk music wasn’t what he loved anymore.

Macdonald, at this point, was starting to grow up and mature as the times went on. Both

accidents that happened in his family were tragedies that he had to overcome and move

on from. Things like that, which happened in his life, were all from his family. His

family plays a big role in the personality and attitude that MacDonald has when he grows

older.

MacDonald then, ventures out to Europe. He goes to England where he visits

London and sees all the major monuments and sightseeing places and then to Ireland

where he sees what he family actually resides from and how things were back in the

“day”. When he is on his little trip overseas he begins to realize how much he misses his

family, especially his mother. When he gets back to South Boston things change and his

attitude towards everything changed. MacDonald has become a grown man now, making

decisions for himself and also for other people.

  14  

MacDonald’s family has put him through a lot of tragedies but also experiencing

situations that made him gain confidence, experience, and courage to go out and be

anything you want to be and make decisions based on your own feelings towards that

idea. Family plays a huge role, in anyone’s life, which changes and makes how your

attitude towards life is. As you can see throughout MacDonald’s life, he has been through

many stages and phases that make you wonder how he will turn out when he is an adult

and living on his own. As his life progresses and he makes his own decisions he faces

consequences, which could be good and bad in different situations. He learns from his

mistakes and faces all consequences. His family, played a huge role in his life, without

everything that happened his life with his family, to this day I still don’t think that

MacDonald would be the person he is now and the person he turned out to be. All in all,

MacDonald’s family roles had many tragedies but also it had its strengths to it also. All

families help you through think and thin no matter what the situation is, just like

MacDonald.

  15  

Transition

Since the fact that Macdonald dealt with things in his life that were questionably

hard to recover from, he was to busy trying to recover it instead of trying to be a young

kid and enjoy life. With all his family issues happening Macdonald was getting questions

like “what’s wrong with your family Michael?” instead of hanging around with friends.

Since having questions like that, it was hard for him to fit in with the kids in his society in

Southie. Macdonald had a couple friends but as his family deaths started occurring more

and more those friends started to act like any other kid that he knew in Southie, would

always question Macdonald. Macdonald couldn’t deal with all those questions and

comments that were going around his town about his family. Fitting in can either be very

difficult or come very naturally to certain people. Macdonald always tried fitting in with

out kids in his town, but as he matured and grew older he started to have a mind of his

own and started not to care if was fitting in or getting along with the other kids in

Southie. Just like my situation, I was so worried about my family crisis that fitting in was

difficult for me at first, then as my attitude started to change and my identity started

forming to how I wanted it to be, fitting in for me, came naturally. I have three very close

friends and a lot of natural friends that I can count on. Fitting in, for some people, comes

naturally, and for other people, it takes some work to be “accepted” or “liked”

  16  

 

Fitting  In  

 

  Coming  from  Ludlow,  Massachusetts,  more  than  half  of  my  town’s  

populations  of  11,000  people  are  Portuguese.  Fitting  in  can  be  either  difficult  or  

easy  depending  on  your  nationality.  I  am  100%  Portuguese  so  fitting  in  for  me  was  

not  a  problem  at  all.  I  lived  in  a  residential  neighborhood  of  all  Portuguese  people.    

Growing  up  in  that  neighborhood,  we  had  our  own  little  group,  if  you  will.  Our  group  

of  kids  that  always  hung  out  together  never  had  a  problem  fitting  in  with  the  society  

in  Ludlow.    

  As  a  student  at  Ludlow  High  School,  which  was  majority  Portuguese,  I  came  

to  realize  how  hard  it  was  from  someone  who  wasn’t  Portuguese  to  fit  in  with  

everyone  else.  For  an  example,  in  Ludlow,  soccer  was  a  big  reason  why  people  ever  

even  knew  about  the  town.  Ludlow  was  always  compared  against  New  Bedford  as  

the  weaker  Portuguese-­‐based  high  school  soccer  team.  Soccer  was  a  big  deal,  and  

since  I  was  100%  Portuguese  I  was  always  looked  at  as  one  of  the  soccer  players  

that  came  out  of  Ludlow,  Massachusetts.  On  the  other  hand,  kids  who  try-­‐out  for  the  

soccer  team  who  are  not  Portuguese  are  always  looked  at  being  the  outcast  or  not  as  

good  as  all  of  the  other  Portuguese  players  are.  The  kids  who  are  not  Portuguese,  

who  try-­‐out  for  the  soccer  team,  have  trouble  fitting  in  with  the  soccer  team  I  came  

to  realize.  Inside  jokes,  language,  and  plays  are  mostly  in  Portuguese  on  our  team  so  

the  kids  who  don’t  speak  Portuguese  feel  as  though  they’re  not  a  part  of  the  team.  

  17  

  In  school,  it  was  the  same  old  story  for  the  kids  who  weren’t  Portuguese  

trying  to  fit  in  to  different  groups  of  people,  who  were  Portuguese.  In  a  school  

controlled  mainly  by  Portuguese  native  people,  it’s  going  to  be  tough  to  try  to  fit  in.  

Going  through  the  same  high  school  for  four  years,  I’ve  witnessed  different  kids  try  

to  fit  in  with  the  group  of  kids  I  hang  out  with.  Jokes  were  always  aimed  toward  the  

non-­‐Portuguese  kids  with  the  group  I  hung  out  with.  We  were  never  racist,  but  we  

would  say  jokes  in  Portuguese  that  the  kids  who  weren’t  Portuguese  couldn’t  

understand  it.    

  Ludlow’s  society  is  based  around  Portuguese  people  and  Portuguese  life-­‐

style  traditions.  Every  year,  once  a  year,  a  travel  carnival  comes  to  Ludlow  called  the  

“festa”.  Festa  is  the  Portuguese  word  for  festival  or  party.  The  Festa  would  hold  

Portuguese  ceremonies  such  as,  Candle  Light  Precessions,  Portuguese  food,  

Portuguese  dancing,  and  Portuguese  accessories  sold  at  different  stands.  I  noticed  

only  the  Portuguese  people  from  the  town  would  attend  this  four  day  long  event.  

This  shows  that  people  that  aren’t  of  the  Portuguese  Nationality  feel  as  though  they  

don’t  belong  in  Ludlow  or  their  excluded  from  all  Portuguese  events  held  in  

Ludlow’s  society.    

   Witnessing,  first  hand,  what  it  was  like  for  non-­‐Portuguese  people  trying  to  

fit  in,  whether  it  was  a  soccer  team  or  attending  Ludlow  held  events,  you  can  tell  

that  those  kids  feel  excluded  from  everything.  For  them,  fitting  in  was  very  hard,  

such  as  making  friends  or  playing  soccer.  For  the  Portuguese  people  in  Ludlow,  

fitting  in  was  just  as  easy  as  any  other  town.    

 

  18  

About  the  Author    

  Antonio  Bastos,  born  on  July  31,  1993  in  the  city  of  Springfield,  

Massachusetts,  graduated  from  Ludlow  Senior  High  School  in  2011.  He  now  attends  

Nichols  College  and  majors  in  Sport  Management.  Sport  Management  is  been  

something  Antonio  has  been  talking  about  for  a  while,  even  before  high  school.  

Antonio  hopes  to  achieve  his  bachelors  degree  and  then  in  time,  move  on  to  his  MBA  

degree.  

Antonio  is  a  very  family-­‐oriented  gentleman  who  was  brought  up  and  raised  

by  Christian  morals.  Antonio  is  the  son  of  Antonio  and  Jennifer  Bastos.  In  his  life,  

mostly  everything  revolves  around  family  and  friends.  Antonio  embraces  all  tasks  at  

hand  with  full  intent  to  complete  anything  on  time  and  100%.  Antonio’s  parents  got  

divorced  when  he  was  only  10  years  of  age,  which  

had  a  deep  and  heavy  impact  on  Antonio’s  

thoughts  and  feelings.  From  there,  Antonio  always  

had  to  deal  with  living  in  two  houses  and  spending  

the  equal  amount  of  time  with  his  father  just  as  he  

did  with  his  mother  also.  At  the  age  5,  Antonio  

started  playing  soccer  and  still  does  play  soccer  to  

this  day  even  when  he’s  18  years  old.  Antonio  is  

very  passionate  about  his  family  and  feels  like  family  should  be  number  one  on  

anybody’s  priority  list.  To  this  day,  Antonio  still  puts  his  family  first  and  his  friends  

second,  and  always  stays  focused  on  anything  that  is  given  to  him.