Paddy Clarke is the main character of Roddy Doyle’s Booker Prize winning book Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. He is a young child born to working class parents in Ireland. He has three siblings. A younger brother and two baby sisters. Of his siblings, he seems closest to his younger brother Francis, affectionately called Sinbad.

Patrick and Sinbad have the same circle of friends. Their childhood represents the typical power plays seen in sibling relationships

Dominance
As a senior, Patrick ensures that Sinbad carries out his will at play, usually by force. Sinbad is often the guinea pig of their boyhood experiments. For example, Sinbad is forced to put lighter fuel in his mouth and ignite it, so that his brother and friends can watch: ‘It went like a dragon’.

Responsibility
Patrick also assumes responsibility for Sinbad because he is older than him. When Sinbad cannot keep pace with the elder boys in the group, Patrick waits for him: ‘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 arm and caught up with the rest of them.’ Or when Sinbad loses a shoe in play, Patrick accompanies his brother to hunt for it.

Sibling Jealousy
Though there is very little age difference between the boys, Patrick does not seem to be jealous of his younger brother for getting his Ma’s attention. Patrick is even seen doing little kind things for Sinbad in his own childlike way. When his Da pretends to be Santa, for example, Patrick plays along with his parents just so that Sinbad’s belief in Santa does not break. Again, when their Ma attends to Sinbad’s ache in the legs, Patrick has a very clinical approach to the incident. He is never really seen comparing his parent’s love towards Sinbad and himself.

Peer Pressure

Peer pressure often decides Patrick’s attitude to his brother. ‘I hated Sinbad… Big brothers hated their little brothers. They had to. It was the rule.’ Therefore, he subjects Sinbad to unnecessary duress when he is with his friends. But at home, he expects Sinbad to respond to his kindness. As the book progresses however, Patrick learns to understand peer pressure and recognizes his real emotions towards his brother. If Sinbad died, Patrick tells himself, ‘I’d have no one left to hate, to pretend to hate…I loved Sinbad’.

Emotional Dependency
As boys, Patrick and Sinbad do not seem to be emotionally very close. The growing rift between their parents disturbs Patrick deeply, who then reaches out to Sinbad for support and reassurance. ‘Pretending to be protecting him, I’d wanted him close to me, to share, to listen together; to stop it or run away’. But almost always, he is coldly spurned by his younger brother who seems to have withdrawn into his shell in order to cope with the problem. By Patrick’s own admission ‘Sinbad was a secret’.