Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Personal Connection Recommendation Quotes Author Leave/Bibliography Personal Connection Recommendation Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Quotes Author Hello and Welcome to My Paddy Clarke Report. Click on anything. They are all links to pages with more information. Yes the title is click-able too. Kyle Lundy

<BACK Back Cover Summary: It is 1968. Patrick Clarke is ten. He loves Geronimo, the Three Stooges, and the smell of his hot water bottle. He can’t stand his little brother Sinbad. His best friend is Kevin, and their names are all over Barrytown, written with sticks in wet cement. They play football, lepers, and jumping to the bottom of the sea. But why didn’t anyone help him when Charles Leavy had been going to kill him? Why do his ma and da argue so much, but act like everything is fine? Paddy sees everything, but he understands less and less. Hilarious and Poignant, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha charts the triumphs, indignities, and bewilderment of a young boy and his world, a place full of warmth, cruelty, confusion, and love. <BACK

Theme: Quote 1 Quote 2 Quote 3 Quote 4 Quote 5 <BACK After reading this novel i have found a revolving theme. In the book “Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha” Roddy Doyle included ideas about having to grow up. He choose this theme because he wants people to know that no matter how long we try to hold it off we will always be forced to grow up. There are 5 quotes related to the theme and with that an explanation as to why. Click on the quote you want to be directed to. <BACK

“We are being chased. I had to wait for Sinbad “We are being chased. I had to wait for Sinbad. I looked back and there was no one after us but I didn’t say anything. I grabbed Sinbad’s hand and ran and caught up with the rest of them.” (2) Quote 1 This part of the book was great because Paddy was able to feel the need to protect his brother. By grabbing his brother’s hand he showed that he wanted to keep his brother safe. Doing this it shows that there are things in which he will have to do when he grows up and he accepts the fact that he will have to do them. He knows he will have to grow up and he knows that doing this will help him in being a very protective grown-up brother. <BACK

“That’s you growing up, you know, she told him. You’ll be very tall Quote 2 At this part of the book Paddy was having some pains in his legs. The mom said they were growing pains and that he was going to grow-up and be very tall. This was great for him to hear in the fact that he will be getting older and having to make more wiser and mature decisions in the future for him. <BACK

“He said that Sinbad would be doing things like that when he was Kevin’s brother’s age.” (115) Quote 3 This was at one of times in which his dad came home late from work, like always. Paddy was awake and they had a little talk. Sinbad was in bed. Paddy’s father tells him of how Sinbad will be able to stay awake when he is Kevin’s brother’s age. This is where Paddy’s fins out that as you grow-up and get older you get more responsibilities and more lenient activities. And with these responsibilities you become a man. <BACK

“I was still going to run away, even without Sinbad or Charles Leavy “I was still going to run away, even without Sinbad or Charles Leavy. I’d wanted Sinbad most, like in flight of the Doves, me in charge, carrying my little brother on my back when he was too tired, through the ditches and the bogs, over rivers. Looking after him.” (271) Quote 4 Paddy wanted to run away for a while and when he was being pressured at school he realized that he wanted to run away so bad that he wanted to leave everyone except one person. He wanted his brother Sinbad so he could carry him through the hard times. Wanting to carry his brother through these things Paddy has realized that he wants to grow up and take care of someone like his brother. <BACK

Quote 5 <BACK “You’re the man of the house now, Patrick… Paddy Clarke Has no da. Ha ha ha! I don’t listen to them. They were only kids. (281) Quote 5 This is at the end of the book. Paddy was at school when his mother picked him up and said, “You’re the man of the house now”. He didn’t want to come to realize that he was left. But it became something that will stick with him forever. But the worst part about that was that the other kids made fun of the fact that his dad left him. Paddy’s response to that was that they were only kids. At this time he realizes that he no longer wants to be a kid and will finally become what his dad placed upon him…a man. <BACK

Personal Connection <BACK This book was very intriguing and although some parts were hard to under stand I really felt like I was in the mind of a 10 year old. I know how hard it can be to stay on one topic and go with that for a while. I really like how Roddy Doyle portrayed this child and the abuse that he went through. His parents gave him a lot of crap even though the problems that they were all experiencing were really between the two parents. I would hate it if my parents treated me just as bad as his parents treated him. I liked the fact that I could grow up when and how I wanted to. When I was ready to do something more I would just take it into my hands and do what I wanted. But I guess I am just glad that I had the less abuse than Paddy’s family. There is also another similarity between Paddy’s situation and mine. He had a younger brother and I have a younger sister. Yes both Paddy and I want to carry our siblings through the hard times and pick them up when they couldn’t do something by themselves. I feel the same way he does about wanting to protect the people around him. I loved how this book makes you feel what he felt. Personal Connection <BACK

Recommendation <BACK I would recommend this book people around the age of 17-19. The book gives great ideas and ways of thinking for people of this age. If you love topics that change so often that you can’t focus. If you can get passed the fact that the book is in the state of a 10 year old than you have a good chance of learning what I have learned from this book. People may have a hard time reading this book because of how Roddy writes this book. It may take a while to get into the book because of how late it takes for it too pick up. But if you can get into it I think that it’s a great book. From the way the author writes this book you would have to pay attention to the words and ideas that he portrays. I would recommend his other books as well as I would recommend this one as well even though there were tough parts. <BACK

Author Novelist, born in Dublin, Ireland. He studied at University College, Dublin, then taught English and geography at a local school, and began writing in his spare time. His first success came with The Commitments (1987), the first of the internationally acclaimed Barrytown trilogy, which he completed with The Snapper (1990) and The Van (1991). Later novels include Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (1993, Booker), The Woman Who Walked into Doors (1996), A Star Called Henry (1999), Oh, Play That Thing (2004), and Paula Spencer (2006). <BACK

Works Cited Doyle, Roddy. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc., 1995. "Roddy Doyle Biography." Biography. A&E Television Networks. 12 Apr. 2008 <http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9278649>. Thanks for looking at my wonderful project. Have a nice day.