Edwin O’Connor’s 1956 The Last Hurrah follows the final years of mayoral incumbent Frank Skeffington and his “last hurrah” as he vies for a fifth term of what is presumably the city of Boston. Loosely based on the life of big-city Democratic boss and four-term mayor of Boston, James Michael Curley, O’Connor excellently portrays the life of Frank Skeffington as an aging Irish-American politician in the 1950’s. Skeffington is witty and increasingly persuasive and his political success is not without warrant, but his “old-style” political ways are inevitably on the way out. The Last Hurrah portrays the change in American politics from “old-hat paternalism” of Frank Skeffington or James Michael Curley to a fresh-faced era of universal welfare and change brought on by F.D.R. and the New Deal. Edwin O’Connor’s literary style involves narration from a third-party with endlessly long sections of narration-some taking up entire pages. Despite the difficulty one might have in reading portions of this material, O’Connor does an excellent job of making his writing readable to all. The narrator follows Skeffington’s campaign with his nephew, Adam, as a “non-political observer.” In creating a story in which Adam is completely ignorant of his uncle’s political prowess, O’Connor is able to tell the story of Frank Skeffington to…show more content… This type of politics is characterized by a city government ran by local officials through personal leadership and very few laws (O’Connor 101). According to Jack this means “Nothing on the books, just one man passing out the jobs and Christmas baskets to the kiddies (O’Connor 101). This kind of “old-hat paternalism” is indicated by Skeffington’s system of exchanging favors or financial aid for political support and his desire and ability to turn anything, even a wake, into a political rally. Skeffington discusses his political tactics with his nephew
