Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

The novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha has no authorial presence at all, yet the reader gains a richer understanding of the situation than Paddy – or any other 10-year old – could ever have. With regard to the parent’s break up, how does Doyle achieve this?

There are many factors which suggest how Doyle has succeeded in creating a 'triangular relationship' between himself the reader and the narrator – Paddy Clarke – so that the reader has a greater awareness of the predicament that Paddy is in. Doyle’s achievement is how he alternates the poetic and realistic without once lapsing into stream-of-self-consciousness; the only way we - as readers can tell it's written by an adult, is by the spelling. We see the violence in Paddy's life peripherally; Doyle tells us nothing more than what the child sees and comprehends.

One of the reasons for Roddy Doyle’s success lies in creating a realistic and convincing character for a 10-year old child. He does this by his clever use of language, and also in how he arranges his sentences to convey deep emotion and feeling than any emotive language could:

“He’d hit her. Across the face; smack. I tried to imagine it. It didn’t make sense. I’d heard it; he’d hit her. She’d come out of the kitchen

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We are able to read between the lines, and by doing this we can detect the silent turbulence, unlike Paddy whom is the story’s narrator. The real name for soccer was association football. ”

Doyle uses repetition to show Paddy’s anxiety, when he repeats ‘stop’. We can see the violence in his life superficially; we are told nothing more than what the child sees and comprehends.

Tom Newton

Bibliography

The 1993 minerva publication of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

. This is shown a few paragraphs later:

“Ma was getting out of the car. Catherine had one of Ma’s fingers in her mouth and she was biting real hard – she had a few teeth – but Ma didn’t do anything about it.

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is written in the first person, and is therefore devoid of the authorial omniscience and intrusiveness that would allow Doyle to relate to the reader. We can interpret what is happening from his parent’s actions, which justifiably speak louder than words. But I rocked the same way as I did when I was saying prayers…. When reading, the reader and Paddy develop a symbiotic existence, where Paddy is necessary to allow us to see, and hear and act as a viewpoint into his world, and our superior comprehension can observe the underlying tension that ultimately culminates in the parent’s divorce.

Another reason why the reader of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha has a higher understanding than is simply because the adult audience has more experience in family issues – from our own experiences. The fact that the story is set in a first-person narrative - with a bewildered 10-year old as the narrator - allows us to fill the gaps in Paddy’s mind, and we can connect with Doyle’s imagination - and in doing this he has effectively succeeded in creating a realistic world through the eyes of an imaginary child. The short sentences represent how Paddy is dumbstruck and lost for words, shocked by what he’s heard – this is also highlighted when he says here; “I tried to imagine it.

Approximate Word count = 1299
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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