Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Using the extract below (pages 167-170) as your starting point, you should:
Explore how Doyle develops the voice of his child narrator to reveal his changing relationship with his brother
Examine how violence enables Paddy to make sense of the world around him
Doyle uses the narrative voice of a child to show a changing relationship between Paddy and Sinbad. In the episode ‘Sinbad is good at football’ Paddy presents a growing voice of annoyance towards his brother. This can be seen here; “He was a twirp”. With the use of the simple declarative and childish colloquialism it becomes clear that his brother agitates him, especially as Sinbad is better than Paddy at football. Paddy is usually seen as a powerful figure within the friendship group behind Kevin and is being undermined by his little brother. He is beginning to see Sinbad as a threat to his power and is becoming annoyed. This is the beginning of a changing attitude for Paddy towards his brother, previously in the novel, Paddy is seen to deal with his brother with violence, but realises that this no longer works and therefore does nothing.
Further along in this episode, Paddy is begins to display another voice, making him seemingly proud of his brother, “He wasn’t selfish like most fellas who could dribble”. The use of the modal verb of ‘could’ in this passage makes it evident that Paddy has noticed that his brother is becoming good at something and this is a more mature display of character towards his brother. He is seen to be stepping up in the absence of his parent who are usually too busy arguing to focus on the children, this is the first time that paddy is seen to step up and mature in order to look out for his brother. There is a change in Paddy’s relationship towards Sinbad as in recent times Paddy would have been more interested in hurting his brother than showing his pride towards him, which is an indicator for his increasing maturity.
In the same episode, ‘Sinbad is good at
Explore how Doyle develops the voice of his child narrator to reveal his changing relationship with his brother
Examine how violence enables Paddy to make sense of the world around him
Doyle uses the narrative voice of a child to show a changing relationship between Paddy and Sinbad. In the episode ‘Sinbad is good at football’ Paddy presents a growing voice of annoyance towards his brother. This can be seen here; “He was a twirp”. With the use of the simple declarative and childish colloquialism it becomes clear that his brother agitates him, especially as Sinbad is better than Paddy at football. Paddy is usually seen as a powerful figure within the friendship group behind Kevin and is being undermined by his little brother. He is beginning to see Sinbad as a threat to his power and is becoming annoyed. This is the beginning of a changing attitude for Paddy towards his brother, previously in the novel, Paddy is seen to deal with his brother with violence, but realises that this no longer works and therefore does nothing.
Further along in this episode, Paddy is begins to display another voice, making him seemingly proud of his brother, “He wasn’t selfish like most fellas who could dribble”. The use of the modal verb of ‘could’ in this passage makes it evident that Paddy has noticed that his brother is becoming good at something and this is a more mature display of character towards his brother. He is seen to be stepping up in the absence of his parent who are usually too busy arguing to focus on the children, this is the first time that paddy is seen to step up and mature in order to look out for his brother. There is a change in Paddy’s relationship towards Sinbad as in recent times Paddy would have been more interested in hurting his brother than showing his pride towards him, which is an indicator for his increasing maturity.
In the same episode, ‘Sinbad is good at