How do Paulas early experiences shape the way she develops as a person?

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How do Paula’s early experiences shape the way she develops as a person?

        The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle is a novel that tells the struggle of an abused woman called Paula Spencer, narrated by the victim as she tries to make sense of her past. The title comes from an incident when her husband asks her how she received the injury which he was responsible for. The narration describes her childhood, first meeting with Charlo and their marriage as Paula looks back upon her life. Readers are able to see how these events shaped the way Paula’s negatives experiences are responsible to how she views herself as an adult. At first, Paula is presented as a skittish and frightened character because mundane things such as a door bell make her feels “terrified”. Doyle is preparing and creating expectation for the readers for Paula’s traumatic past experiences because at this stage of the novel they are still unaware of her problems. The bell is the signal for the news of the death of Charlo, Paula’s husband. However, the fact that Paula was afraid of the door bell suggests that she associates it with bad experiences. It also serves as a hyperbole, as it “lifted me off the floor” suggests that Paula is frightened of visitors due to her past experiences. This caused the reader to wonders what has caused Paula to become so skittish and frightened. Doyle soon provides the answer as he explores Paula’s childhood.

The news triggers Paula to reminiscence her past experiences. However, Paula recalls her memories in non-chronological manner and in a stream of consciousness which suggests her fragmented mind. Possibly, due to Paula’s agonising past or alcoholism as a means of self-protection from the abuse. The structure of the novel is told in a combination of flashbacks of her childhood, her first meeting, dates then marriage with Charlo and the present time of how she is dealing with the news of Charlo’s death whilst the same time exploring what really happened. Doyle starts the novel with this information making the structure of the novel reflect the importance of Charlo’s death as having a tremendous impact on Paula’s life. In the second chapter, Paula reminiscences her first meeting with Charlo, the power struggle between them is shown as Paula enjoys making him “sweat” which suggests that he has to work hard to get Paula however Charlo is shown to be the one in control at the end as she believes that he “had” her. The word “had” suggests that he has complete control over her life ever since that time. It leads to believe that Charlo’s abusive and controlling behaviour has turned Paula into a paranoid, depressed, alcoholic and emotionally and physically unstable after seventeen years of marriage. Nonetheless, Paula’s paradoxical statements, “he was wearing what everyone wore back then but the uniform was made especially for him” suggest her contradicting feelings about him as it has been tainted by experiences she has had since.

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Initially, Paula believes that she had a happy upbringing, although this might not be accurate as Paula has a habit of “making it nice”. Doyle uses unreliable narrator as Paula tried to create a blissful childhood for herself even though she knows that her memories might not be reliable as she confesses that “maybe I only remember her dressing me because I dressed my girls”. This shows that Paula recognises that her memory is not to be trusted. There is sexual abused hinted in this novel as Paula recalls her childhood memory with her father when “he put me and ...

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