Olivant, I had to get a professor of psychology to comprehend your post. I don't have your brain for big deals. My point is that Frankie seemed to gain more wisdom and maturity toward the end of the film than he displayed at the beginning. It was like he was a different personality. Maybe thats what Federal Custody and knowledge of your impending death does.
Well, yeah. We are expected to gain more wisdom and to become more mature as we grow older. Babe has a good point. Frankie probably had no more han a HS education if even that. But his street education gave him the tools to operate successfully until he made mistakes, which we all do (even me). Since we don't know what his personality was in his yunger years, we don't know if it changed. As you live your life you encounter different situations to which you react with the tools you have. As time goes by, you gain experience. One experieince is the realization that you get one life to live - that's all.
