Paddy Clarke, ha ha ha Paddy Clarke is ten years old and lives with his parents who he calls ma and da. He also lives with his younger brother Sinbad, whose real name is Francis, and two baby sisters. Paddy spends his days with his friends Kevin, Aiden, and Liam.The central character of the book is Patrick (Paddy) Clarke. In Paddy Clarke, ha ha ha, Roddy Doyle has depicted the mind and thoughts, worries and happy moments of Paddy Clarke in a very realistic way. Boys of that age can be really cruel, and Paddy Clarke is just that. Patrick Clarke is ten years old and somewhat of a bully. He is a boy who is constantly teasing and fighting everyday of his life. Paddy, his best friend Kevin, and a gang of boys are constantly getting into things around their town, neighborhood, and school. He is the instigator in pranks and causing pain, he feels as if he cannot show any signs of weakness. The pranks are that of young boys who are bored, and trying to find a place where they fit in with society. The pranks can turn cruel though, such as when they lit Sinbad's mouth on fire. Paddy often picks
on Sinbad, his brother, when no other target is available to him. Paddy is worried about staying on Kevin’s good side and impressing his friends. In the novel, while he was struggling to open his brother’s mouth in order to set it on fire, Paddy thought to himself, “This was terrible; in front of the others, I couldn’t sort out my little brother” (8). Kevin is the one who gives out punishments in their games and pranks, and if you are on his bad side, you get beaten. At home however, when there is trouble, it isn't always easy for ...
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on Sinbad, his brother, when no other target is available to him. Paddy is worried about staying on Kevin’s good side and impressing his friends. In the novel, while he was struggling to open his brother’s mouth in order to set it on fire, Paddy thought to himself, “This was terrible; in front of the others, I couldn’t sort out my little brother” (8). Kevin is the one who gives out punishments in their games and pranks, and if you are on his bad side, you get beaten. At home however, when there is trouble, it isn't always easy for Paddy to be strong. This story takes place in Dublin, Ireland, during the 1960s. They live in a place called Barrytown, a working class suburb. The town is growing and expanding; roads are being built, gradually wiping out the places where Paddy and his friends grew up. The novel depicts different scenes, such as the homes of Paddy and his friends, school, and the nearby construction sites. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is a story about the life of an Irish boy, Paddy Clarke. He runs around with his friends and terrorizes the streets of their hometown. He and his friends like to start fires, write their names in wet cement, harass older ladies, and cause much more chaos. Paddy was apart of this chaos until he realized that strange things are going on between his parents and they are fighting. Paddy tries to help his parents' marriage that is falling apart and getting worse each day as well as bringing the whole family back together.The major conflict in the story is Paddy’s struggle to cope with the separation of his parents. Although the beginning of the novel is filled with pranks and cruelty, his life is not all about pranks. There were consequences for his mischief, brotherly affection and rivalry, as well as a separation between his parents. The growing challenge between his parents and the breaking up of their marriage is apparent as the novel moves on. Paddy's life takes on a more serious approach as his parents continue to constantly argue, as well as his father becoming violent with Paddy's mother. The boys are troubled by the thought of their family falling apart. When he realized that his parents’ relationship was not doing as well he began to look at things differently, and believes that he can fix his parents relationship and reunite his family; however it was not so easy for Paddy. One scene in the book talks about a time when Paddy had the opportunity to hit his brother, like he had done so often, and found that he did not find it amusing anymore. Paddy said, “I’d done it and seen it done so often it wasn’t funny anymore. It was just an excuse; pretending that hurting someone was for a joke” (225). This passage shows how he grew out of his childhood behavior and became closer to his brother. He found that he needed his brother more than ever and ends up taking on a paternal concern for Sinbad in hopes to shield him from the break up of their parents. Paddy’s problems with his family made him feel insecure about where he would fit in with other kids. He became confused and started to separate from his friends. His maturing process and loss of childhood innocence are important themes in this novel. His life becomes centered on the chaos at home, and he is forced to grow up quicker than any ten-year-old boy should have to. In this maturing process he begins to tire of Kevin and the gangs’ childish games, and sees how Kevin has been harassing others. After his fight with Kevin, his friends isolate him, but at this point he realizes that he does not need them; he realizes that in order to be friends with Kevin he would have to hate a large amount of people and that is something that he does not want to do. Paddy also became aware that Charles Leavy does not need any friends, and he fights him. After the fight between him and Charles was over with, Paddy said, “No one had jumped in for me when Charles Leavy had been going to kill me; it took me a while to get used to that, to make it make sense. To make it alright” (186). This passage shows a more mature side to Paddy, as he is figuring out more and more about whom he is and where he belongs in society. However, he still cannot understand why his parents continue to fight and the breakdown of his parent’s marriage has a profound effect on Paddy. When the fighting starts, he stays close to his mom, as if almost to protect her, and when his dad hits his mom, he is confused. After this happened Paddy said, “I loved him. He was my da. It didn’t make sense. She was my ma” (191). Although Paddy was never able to make complete sense of his parent’s relationship, he took it as it was and dealt with it as a very mature young boy.
