Doyle's Novels example essay topic

An Analysis of Roddy Doyle's Writing Style Roddy Doyle is an Irish novelist from Dublin, Ireland, who has written several award winning a novels. Through the use of a variety of literary techniques, Doyle has been able to delve into the thoughts and minds of his characters, so that the reader can easily empathize with them. Specifically, through the use of vernacular language, detailed imagery, and stream of consciousness in two of his novels, The Woman Who Walked Into Doors and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Roddy Doyle is able to successfully depict what occurs in the minds of both abused women, and adolescent boys, respectively. In The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, Roddy Doyle tells the story of a recovering alcoholic who has been in an abusive marriage.

This woman, Paula Spencer, struggles throughout the novel to gain control of the confusion her life has become. Through his use of the vernacular, detailed imagery, and stream of consciousness, Doyle is able to show the effect that abuse has on its victims. Ever since she was a child, Paula Spencer was treated with disrespect. She attended a grade school which classified her as an idiot.

As Paula described it", All the classes are named after Irish musicians. We were just 1.6. We got the worst room the worst teachers, the dopes... It was a fright, finding out that I was stupid" (Doyle Doors 28). This use of vernacular language is seen throughout this novel. Doyle's technique of writing in the vernacular is very effective in getting his point across, plain and simple.

In this case, Doyle is able to effectively show the psychological abuse Paula suffered as a child and what effect it had on her. This is most likely where Paula's disrespect for herself stemmed from, and most likely what lead to her tolerance of the physical abuse yet to come. At a young age Paula married a man named Charlo Spencer. It was quite apparent from the beginning that Charlo was not the right man for Paula. However, she married him anyway, and over their seventeen years of marriage Paula Spencer was severely beaten by her husband. The entire novel is about how Paula tries desperately to sort through her confusion.

Since Doyle tells her story in the vernacular it is very easy for the reader to relate. Doyle's language and first person narrative perfectly catch Paula's erratic thoughts, as she tries to sort out the tangled strands of her memory, and tries to recover those which are lost. (Cape 1) Paula's use of vulgar words throughout the novel is helps express the anger, pain and confusion she is feeling. Doyle does not try to clean up the language. His use of the vernacular in Paula's thoughts and speech conveys the anger and pain that an abuse victim feels.

For instance: They were all the same; they didn't want to know. They'd never ask. Here's a prescription; now fuck off. The young ones were the worst, the young ones in Casualty... I should have boxed her ears.

A kid in a white coat, playing. Shouting at the nurses. A fuck in' little child with no manners... (Doyle Doors 190) Here Paula is describing the doctors who she sees every time she needs medical attention after she has been beaten by Charlo. It is apparent through her choice of words that she is angry and also that she wanted help, but didn't quite know how to get it. Her frustration with her situation is evident in her choice of words.

Not only does Doyle do an excellent job in showing the abuse through his use of the vernacular, but he is also able to vividly describe the abuse to the reader through detailed imagery, conveyed through the thoughts of Paula herself. Throughout the novel, Paula Spencer vividly describes the episodes when Charlo beats her. The images her descriptions give the reader make it very clear how painful and frustrating it is for abuse victims. For example: He pushed me back into the corner. I felt hair coming away; skin fighting it. And a sharper pain when his shoe bit into my arm, like the cut of a knife.

He grunted. He leaned against the wall over me. I heard the next kick coming; my fingers exploded. Another grunt, and my head was thrown back. My head hit the wall. My chin was split.

I felt blood on my neck. Again. Again. I curled away to block the kicks. I closed my eyes. He kicked my back...

The same spot again and again. He was breaking through my back. (Doyle Doors 185) Here Paula is describing a beating she received. Doyle is able to emphasize the horrifying pain of abuse by using such descriptive words and phrases as: exploded and 'like the cut of a knife'. Also, through the description that Doyle uses in describing Paula's relationship with Charlo, the reader is able to understand how Charlo made Paula feel, and in turn allows the reader to understand how any abuse victim would feel.

For instance: When we made love the first time in the field when we were drunk, especially me, and I didn't really know what was happening, only his weight and wanting to get sick; I felt terrible after it, scared and soggy, guilty and sore. (Doyle Doors The reader is able to get a sense from this description, of how Charlo made Paula feel. And more importantly how abuse hurts its victims. The combination, that Doyle uses, of words such as scared, soggy, guilty and sore, resembles the combination of feelings that exist within Paula.

She feels physical pain as well as psychological pain. The abuse that Paula has had to endure has left her in a state of severe mental confusion. When Charlo loved her, Paula was happy and her life was wonderful. When Charlo beat her, her life was hell. This novel is about Paula's struggle to sort out who she is. It is about her final realization that she is capable of doing something, such as finding a job, providing for her four children, and controlling her drinking.

It is a novel dealing with the psychological trauma associated with abuse. Psychological trauma is a side effect of abuse. Mental confusion is one of the symptoms. Roddy Doyle very effectively shows Paula's state of mind through his use of the literary technique, stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness is a narrative technique that relies on a character's feelings, memories and thoughts, as well as associations between the three to tell a story. Doyle uses this technique throughout the entire novel.

The only person's thoughts the reader knows are Paula Spencer's. So, due to the use of stream of consciousness, the reader experiences what Paula is thinking and remembering, as Paula does. The story is disordered and in disarray. Paragraphs are often repeated numerous times.

Some critics feel that this confusion in writing makes for a boring novel. Suzanne Keen states: Yet the deliberately disordered storytelling, jumbled up to mimic Paula's patchy memory, the repetitions, and the unvaried rhythm of the prose make a novel that ought to be riveting into a boring book. I find it strange to be bored by a novel about pain, especially since the story Doyle tells contributes to the exposure of the scandalous epidemic of violence against women. (Keen 21) However, in my opinion, the confusion that this novel is written in is the reason that Doyle so clearly is able to make his point. The confused writing is equivalent to the confused mind of Paula Spencer, the abused. Being abused by someone who supposedly loved her left Paula very unsure of herself.

She lost control as a result. She has inconsistent memories of her past, her thoughts are completely jumbled, and she often has the same thoughts repeatedly. Use of repetition is another style of writing that Doyle effectively uses in the development of his theme. Throughout the novel, Paula repeats memories and thoughts numerous times. For example: Then I saw Charlo's feet, then his legs, making a triangle with the floor. He seemed way up over me.

Miles up. I had to bend my back to see him. Then he came down to meet me. His face, his eyes went all over my face, looking, searching. Looking for marks, looking for blood. He was worried...

(Doyle 5) This memory is seen various times throughout the novel. It often occurs after Paula recounts a story of a beating she received. By using this repetitive technique, Doyle is able to reinforce the effect that the abuse has on Paula. It also helps the reader to realize how repetitive the abuse itself is. So the repetitive style of the writing parallels the repetitive abuse. Bruce Allen agrees", It's structure adroitly expresses the chaotic nature of Paula's experiences and her recollection of them" (Allen 3).

Doyle's first person account of this story is quite effective in making the reader aware of the effect the abuse has on Paula. In my opinion, had this novel been written in omniscient point of view, the theme would not have come across so clearly. Suzanne Keen, however, has another opinion: Paula Spencer is a trickier kind of witness: one who has blacked out and been knocked unconscious too often to tell her story 'straight'... she has no special affinity for language. That limitation of perspective means that we cannot see what the doctors, nurses, and relatives see, or fail to register. Further, it means that Charlo remains just as much a cipher to us as he is to his wife, who, after battering him with a frying pan, still registers his charms: ' His hair hung over his face and for a second he looked funny and lovely. ' (Keen 22) Although it is true that no other character's opinions or thoughts are known to the reader, it is not nice's sary that they be known.

The purpose and theme of this novel is to show the effects that abuse has on the victim. Therefore, only the victim's thoughts need to be made known. By writing down only the thoughts of the victim, Paula Spencer, Doyle has focused the reader on her feelings, and has entered the reader into the world as seen through the eyes of an abuse victim. Secondly, in the case of this particular novel, the effect of the book would be ruined, as the theme is conveyed by the use of the stream of consciousness. To take that aspect away would be changing the purpose of the novel and its immediacy would be lost. Roddy Doyle has written a simple story portraying a victim.

It conveys a very important message. Through the use of stream of consciousness, the vernacular and detailed imagery, Doyle was able to compose an accurate account of what goes on in the mind of an abuse victim. The pain and confusion that is evident in Paula Spencer's mind is a mere example. So many people today are victims of abuse. They feel the same pain as Paula did. Roddy Doyle is attempting to expose that abuse and the grave psychological effects it has on people.

This is his underlying theme. He has told a simple story to communicate a powerful and important message to his readers. The Woman Who Walked Into Doors is not the only novel in which Roddy Doyle has written a simple story that made an important point. Nor was it the only novel in which he explored the mind of a human being in order to convey to the reader how people in real life situations feel. Another such novel in which Roddy Doyle uses similar writing style to that of The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, is Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. In this novel, through the use of the vernacular, vivid imagery, and stream of consciousness, Roddy Doyle enables the reader to understand what goes through the mind of an adolescent boy growing up in Dublin, Ireland in 1968.

As William Hutchings states", Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha evokes the innocence and of a modern urban preadolescent" (Hutchings 1). Paddy Clarke is a ten- year old boy who is living in Dublin with both his parents, his younger brother and two younger sisters. Paddy is living in a world where times are tough. He is learning that adults are very unpredictable and don't necessarily always express how they really feel. He also learns that there are two sides to boyhood: the need to act tough and cruel, as well as, the need for friendship and parental love and caring (Heron 1). Roddy Doyle depicts this rough world Paddy Clarke lives in through his use of the vernacular language.

As Turbide says of Doyle: The author's own view is that his job is simply to describe things and people as they really are. And in Doyle's world, the lives are tough, the language is rough- and beauty and tenderness survive amid the bleakness. (Turbide 3) In Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Doyle lived up to his view that he must describe things as they really are. He used the rough vernacular language of reality in describing Paddy Clarke's world.

For example", It had to be a bad word. That was the rule. If it wasn't bad enough you got the belt of the poker. ' the word was made flesh! Did dies!' (Doyle Paddy 130). This is part of a description of a ceremony that Paddy and his friends had had, during which they gave each other names. This shows how Doyle has the characters speak in the vernacular and use bad words, so that he can show how rough the world to an adolescent boy.

Use of the vernacular in the speech of Paddy's parents also emphasizes the toughness of Paddy's experience with his parents. For example: I got between his seat and her seat and pointed out the mountains to them... 's it down you bloody '... ' If we go to the mountains, I said, - he can go behind one of the trees. '. .. I'll swing you from one of the trees if you don't sit down...

". (Doyle Paddy 92). This is an example of a conversation between Paddy and his father. It is obvious that kind words were not always used in interactions Paddy had with his father.

Thirdly, through the use of the vernacular, Doyle is able to specifically depict the childhood world in Dublin, Ireland". With verve, Doyle recaptures the world of Irish childhood: songs, fears, rituals, dialect ("gi ck", "whinge ring"), even the cool words and emotions that mask a boy's deep feeling" (Cape 1). Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha tells the story of a young boy who must jump from childhood, quickly in to the troubles of adulthood. Throughout the novel, Doyle uses vivid description in order to depict for the reader how Paddy feels both as a young child and as a young adult (Haupt 2). For example: Under the table was a fort. With the six chairs tucked under it there was still plenty of room; it was better that way, more secret.

I'd sit there for hours. This was the good table in the living room, the one that never got used, except at Christmas. I didn't have to bend my head. Th roof of the table was just above me.

(Doyle Paddy 103) This is a vivid description of Paddy Clarke, the child. It conveys to the reader the childhood world Paddy lived in that consisted of forts and games, and a carefree life style. Doyle however, did not leave out description of the adult world that Paddy was reluctantly entering into. For instance, he describes Paddy's father leaving the house for good: He didn't slam the door even a bit. I saw him in the glass, waiting; then he was gone. I knew something: tomorrow or the day after my ma was going to call me over to her and, just the two of us, she was going to say, - You " re the man of the house now, Patrick...

Paddy Clarke-Paddy Clarke-Has no da. Ha, ha, ha! I didn't listen to them. They were only kids.

(Doyle Paddy 281) Doyle shows Paddy stepping over into the adult world. He is no longer Paddy, he is now Patrick and the man of the house. With the description of Paddy's father leaving Doyle is able to convey the emptiness that Paddy feels inside, as his carefree days draw to a close. Haupt shares this opinion: With remarkable sensitivity, Mr. Doyle dramatizes the effects of this discord on Paddy's demeanor.

He shows how trouble at home propels Paddy from the warm, familiar comforts of child hood into a cold, indifferent world where the laughter of the novel's title finally echoes hollowly. (Haupt 2) Roddy Doyle also dramatizes the effects of Paddy's discord through the use of stream of consciousness throughout this novel. Paddy Clarke is the narrator who seemingly blurts out his story in a stream of consciousness (Gallagher 1). And although this story does not have much of a plot, Doyle still attains his goal of depicting what goes on in the mind of an adolescent boy living in Dublin, Ireland (Hutchings 1). Paddy Clarke's mind wanders throughout the entire novel, as he and his friends go on one adventure after another, on construction sites, in the woods, and even through city sewage pipes". Doyle agilely itemizes the jumble of data flickering through the boy's brain- especially the numerical odds and ends that fascinate him" (Kemp 2).

For example: Running through the pipe was the most frightening brilliant thing I'd ever done. I was the first to do it for a dare, run all the way down, from outside my house down to the seafront, in the pitch black after only a few steps... You ran as fast as you could, faster than you normally could, but the others were always there at the end waiting. (Doyle Paddy 106) This is one of the many jumbled thoughts that goes through Paddy's head. The technique of stream of consciousness used by Roddy Doyle helps him to attain his goal of conveying the feelings of an adolescent boy. Only a male could understand completely the thrill of running through a sewage pipe, without the stream of consciousness.

However, for the female contingent of readers of this novel, it is necessary that this technique be used, so that it is easier to understand what goes on in Paddy's mind and in all adolescent boys " minds". Doyle puts the reader in the mind and heart of the ten year old boy by using the technique of stream of consciousness" (Allen 2). One other effect that the technique of stream of consciousness has is that it enables the reader to concentrate on the feelings of only one character. It helps them to understand the world from only that characters point of view and allows them to fully understand what that character sees the world as, nothing more and nothing less. "With great sensitivity... Doyle renders Paddy Clarke's world in terms of what his young protagonist can see, but only dimly and reluctantly understand" (Morale 1-2).

Roddy Doyle has chosen successful literary techniques and styles of writing in both of these novels, The Woman Who Walked Into Doors and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. In both novels, his purpose was to reveal to his readers, the inner selves of seemingly normal people (Kenner 1). In my personal opinion, he attained his goals. I personally learned a lot about how jumbled up the mind of an abuse victim is.

Also, what goes on in the mind of a ten year old boy has become clearer. Although some critics feel that Roddy Doyle's style makes for a boring book I disagree. Gray states that the books are merely. ".. anecdotes and strung together incidents... ". that don't make for much of a novel (Gray 2). However, the lack of plot is what makes Doyle's novels what they are: simple stories that delve deep into the minds of everyday people.