Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
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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...