Roddy Doyle’s Paddy Clark: No More Laughing For Paddy Essay, Research Paper

Roddy Doyle’s Paddy Clark: No More Laughing for Paddy

Yer Name Here Poetry/Fiction Paddy Clarke

Roddy Doyle’s Paddy Clarke HA HA HA was a beautifully written book. It

perfectly captures the mind of a ten year old boy in Ireland during the mid-

1960’s. Paddy Clarke, the young boy who Doyle uses to enter the mind of a ten

year old, is a boy who most can relate to. The book explores most aspects of

life through the eyes of Paddy. Doyle takes us through childhood and childhood’s

end. Doyle is able to seize the complexities of life, but at the same time

simplify them enough for ten year old.

Everything is a mystery or an adventure to Paddy and his friends. From

taking over construction sites to receiving polio check-ups. However not

everything is a game to Paddy. His parents lack of compatibility troubles Paddy

and his brother Sinbad greatly. The intensity of his parents arguments

accelerate as the book goes on. At times Paddy feels he can stop them, at one

point he considers himself a “referee” in the fights. “I didn’t know what I’d do.

If I was there he wouldn’t do it again, that was all.”(p.191) He ends up

contemplating who he would want to win. He comes to the conclusion that he would

want his mom to win because she does so much for him, however his father is his

father and he loves him.

Sinbad reacts differently to his parents fighting. He doesn’t try to

intervene or stop them. In fact he closes up, he implodes emotionally. He cuts

himself off from everyone. During one of their parents arguments Paddy tries to

talk to Sinbad, but Sinbad shuts himself off. “”Sinbad?” He didn’t answer. He

wasn’t asleep though, I knew the breathing. I could hear him listening. I didn’t

move. I didn’t want him to think I was going to get him.” (p.222)

This drama did not effect me as much as the daily life. The fights I

could not relate to. I had never experienced arguments of such high caliber. But

inevitably I had experienced the life of a ten year old. I could relate to

Paddy’s reactions to certain situations at school. For instance when Paddy and

his grade are in line to receive check-ups a joke is made and Paddy says, ” I

laughed harder than I had to. We all did” (p.144).

Doyle was able to allow me to not just be a reader but an actor. He was

able to make me believe that I was part of Paddy Clarke. Just the way the book

was set up brought me closer to the days of being ten. The book was formatted

like Paddy’s mind. Jumping from thought to thought and scene to scene. This low

attention span was what really brought me in to Doyle’s world.

I believe that this book won the Booker Prize because of the way the

book is able to avoid sentiment but touch on the important aspects of being ten.

Doyle is able to take the life of a young boy and make it interesting, humorous,

and most of all meaningful. It touches on subjects of life that adults still

have trouble conquering. “Why do people not like each other?” is a question

Paddy poses in the book. What seems to be a simple question asked in an innocent

way, is actually a question that has stumped many. It may seem redundant, but

the true reason the book is so powerful is how all the elements are put together

to form this masterpiece. Not many books allow the reader to feel like you are

one of the characters.

The most puzzling part of the book is the title. Paddy Clarke HA HA HA

appears to simple enough but it is loaded with meaning. The title is only used

once in the book and it is on the second to last page. “Paddy Clarke, Paddy

Clarke has no da. Ha ha ha!” The book deals with Paddy shedding his childhood

ways and taking on the responsibilities of adulthood. A significant part of how

the title is placed in the book is the line right after it. Paddy says,” I

didn’t listen to them. They were only kids.” Earlier in the book Paddy was often

making fun of other kids. He was convinced his family was perfect. But now when

things are not so perfect and Paddy is forced to step up as man of the house, he

crosses over the line into adulthood. Instead of retaliating like he would have

done earlier in the book, Paddy simply does the mature thing and ignores them.

The key phrase is “does the mature thing”. Finally Paddy has shed the coat of

childhood. And to back this thesis up even further on the last page of the book

Paddy sees his father after a long period of his parents being separated. He

address him with a handshake and a” how are you?”. To me this truly defined his

maturity.

Roddy Doyle truly touched me through Paddy Clarke. Very seldomly do you

get to finish a book with such a sense of fulfillment, but yet a yearning for

more. It is a feeling that is seldom used. Doyle was able to stir up memories,

thoughts, opinions, and emotions I had forgot I had. He was able to bring me

back to the good old days of innocence and exploration, he was able to make me

ten again.