Roddy Doyles Paddy Clark: No More Laughing For Paddy Essay -- essays r

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 ...