Roddy Doyle's novel "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha", set in 1960s Dublin, in the fictional suburb of Barrytown, is told in the first person by Paddy, a 10 year old boy. Doyle effectively edits the text to reassemble Paddy's thoughts by manipulating the non-linear structure of the novel and making him reassemble spoken language, while commenting on issues such as the disintegration of Paddy's family, religion and the cruelty of children , giving the reader a child's perspective on these issues. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'? Get an original essay In this excerpt where Paddy recounts a race with his friends, Doyle constructs ten-year-old Paddy's voice using various techniques and linguistic devices to simulate spontaneous speech and recreate Paddy's childish idiolect. The impression that is constantly given to the reader throughout the extract is that this is happening in the present tense. Firstly, due to the heavy use of present tense active verbs, "Jump on the wall, grab the hedge, stand up straight", which also help Doyle create tension in the extract and a sense of immediacy. However, although the reader will not notice it at first glance, Paddy is recounting something that happened in the past. The reader remembers this at the end of the description of the race: "Once Mr. McLoughlin was cutting the grass when we all came over the hedge." This is a typical feature of spontaneous speech, and it vividly describes 10-year-old Paddy's excitement as he remembers the race. This feeling of excitement and speed is further evoked by other characteristics. Doyle uses short sentences to construct Paddy's narrative voice, "Land on the hedge, roll. Our house". This gives the text the effect of having a continuous rhythm that corresponds to the running of the children. This also reinforces the impression of Paddy acting as a sports commentator. This is supported by the deictic language, "McEvoy's wall in Byrne's", and by the pronoun ellipsis, "Jump the hedge, roll over, climb up and out of their gate". This makes the narration faster and tense, like a race. The last sentence, "Winner", is written on a separate line, which expresses both his satisfaction at winning the race and his exhaustion after the whole race. Doyle's manipulation of language to capture ten-year-old Paddy's voice can also be seen. elsewhere in the novel. An example of this is the extract where the gang organizes a sort of “ceremony” where Kevin once again establishes himself as the leader by playing the role of “high priest”. Here the feeling of enthusiasm is also present in Paddy's story. It is indicated by linguistic strategies such as the juxtaposition of contrasting verbs, "It was great and terrible", to describe the ceremony, and the repetition of the onomatopoeic word "swish" to illustrate the action of Kevin hitting them with a stick . The graphology of this part of the novel also reflects the atmosphere of tension that Paddy feels during the game. Minor phrases predominate throughout the extract, and often each of these is placed on a different line on the page, " Swish. This handmade structure slows the pace of the text and makes each word stand out as an important new event. Short exclamations in taboo language, "Shit!", "Tits!", show the children's fascination with forbidden words, again something typical of a 10-year-old, and amuse the reader by remembering how he too thought this way in his.