Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha: Characters test questions - CCEA - GCSE English Literature Revision

1

Read the following extract.

Our names were all around Barrytown, on the roads and paths. You had to do it at night when they were all gone home, except the watchmen.

What is Paddy referring to here?

The gang would write their names in wet cement.

The gang would paint their names on roads and paths.

The gang would chalk their names on roads and paths.

2

Paddy’s mother ties Sinbad’s hands to a chair to stop him from picking the scabs on his lips. Whose reckless behaviour has led to this?

Paddy, Kevin and Liam force a lighter fuel capsule into Sinbad’s mouth and ignite it.

Boys from another gang force a lighter fuel capsule into Sinbad’s mouth and ignite it.

Sinbad has lain out in the sun for too long and burnt his face and lips.

3

Paddy could be described as...

intelligent and inquisitive.

dull and uninterested in the world around him.

stupid.

4

What is Paddy talking about when he says, "I couldn’t stop it from starting"?

A fire the boys have set in the building site.

The breakdown of his parents’ marriage.

A fight in the playground.

5

Mrs. Clarke is...

hard-working and maternal.

lazy and cruel to her children.

indifferent to her surroundings and family.

6

Read the following passage.

The butter was hard. I’d seen my ma doing it, scraping the top with the knife. I couldn’t do it though. I just put pats of butter in each corner of the bread. There was nothing in the fridge to put in the sandwiches, not that I could see, except cheese, and I hated that. So I just made bread sandwiches. I made Sinbad’s as well, just in case Da checked.

What is Paddy describing here?

Making sandwiches for school on the one morning his mother stays in bed.

Making sandwiches for school because his mother never bothers.

Making extra sandwiches for school because he is really hungry.

7

Who says this to whom, “I’ll swing you from one of the trees if you don’t sit down out of my light!”?

Mrs Clarke to Mr Clarke

Sinbad to Paddy

Mr Clarke to Paddy

8

Who says this of whom, "I hated him … He cried. He wet the bed. He got away with not eating his dinner. He had to wear specs with one black lens.”?

Paddy of Kevin

Paddy of Liam

Paddy of Sinbad

9

Read this extract.

There’d been another big fight, a loud one. They’d both run out of the house, him the front, her the back … We were in bed. The door rattled. The air downstairs settled back to normal.

- Did you hear that?

Sinbad didn’t answer. Maybe he hadn’t heard it. Maybe he could decide to hear and not hear things.

What might Doyle be suggesting about Sinbad here?

He is hard of hearing.

He is indifferent to his parents' fights.

He is in denial about the severity of the situation.