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Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
"Part of the human package is loss.
We can try to protect our children as much as we can,
but that would be the biggest loss of all.
An essential part of living is that loss,
fear and cruelty, confronting
it and triumphing over it" (Roddy Doyle).

At one point in everyone’s childhood, we are exposed to loss, fear, and cruelty. Although painful, these are the points in life that build and shape us. In the novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, by Roddy Doyle, there’s an in-depth exploration of the development of a small boy’s empathy from his exposure to loss, fear and cruelty. The point of view of the novel is of this ten year old boy: Paddy Clarke. So the reader is able to see his growth while enduring changes in his life: his parents’ separation. This endurance of pain shapes him into a more empathetic boy. This can be examined through the use of tone, figurative language, and through his relationship with his brother, which reveals paddy’s charact...

Posted by: Jack Drewes

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