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Roddy Doyle, the author of 'The Woman Who Walked Into Doors", won the BookerPrize in 1993 for "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha". This novel made him the largest sellingauthor in the history of the prize. His novels deal with the gritty world of his hometown, Dublin, showing it as the warm-hearted place that it is, despite the povertyand deprivation of certain areas.

"The Woman Who Walked Into Doors" describes the experience of a 39 year oldwoman, Paula Spencer, who survives the physical and mental abuse she is subjectedto by her husband. Paula is an alcoholic but the novel shows her trying her best tolook after her children and get her life back on track. It ends with her finallythrow~ husband out. I intend to examine how Paula was affected by her~~~ domestic abuse and her struggle to regain control of her life.

Before her marriage to Charlo, Paula had a comparatively happy life. Even thoughher family were not very wealthy she was very outgoing and always full of fun. Shewas pretty and also mature for her age so she was popular with both the boys andthe girls in her school, although she was not so popular with the teachers. Paula didnot like her teachers either.

"She didn't ask us if we'd had a nice holiday or if we were nervous.She was just horrible"

( ~Her misbehaviour in classes was, I feel, caused by her need to gain admiration. Paularealised she was not going to succeed academically so she fooled around and toldjokes as she knew she was good at this.

There are several flashbacks in the novel where Paula remembers her childhood tobe very happy. She recalls family caravan holidays, trips to the beach and the manyboyfriends she had as a young girl. Her early relationship with Charlo, before theywere married, it appears was also very happy.

"It was perfect, I'm able to remember it ... Warm dry wind, hishand"-Clryas well-the manly clip of his heels, his smoke"

"Marriage to Charlo, however, changed Paula's life dramatically. The most obviouseffects, perhaps, on Paula's life were those caused by his physical abuse . During hermarriage to Charlo, Paula had injuries such as a dislocated arm, broken bones,cracked ribs, missing teeth and even had hair ripped from her head.

"He lost his temper. And he hit me...He sent me flying across thekitchen."

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Charlo regularly beat up Paula for the most trivial of reasons. This meant that Paulawas always worried about when Charlo would next lose his temper and she alwaystried to make everything perfect to keep him happy.

"Nicola's tears, John Paul's snotty nose, spilling sugar on the floor,everything made me panic. Everything was heading todisaster ... Something I'd do, something I'd say. Anything."

Charlo's beatings also caused Paula to lose a baby. I feel this has affected her verydeeply as she has frequent flashbacks about this throughout the book.

However, the effect of his mental abuse on her character is just as damaging,perhaps even more so. Due to his mental torture, Paula turns to drink.

'The bottle the bottle ... off with the top. Up to my mouth. Head back,down . l hate it I love it I hate it I uroe it I love it I love it ... No morepain."

To me this repetition shows how desperate Paula is to get the bottle open and howmuch she longs for the drink. Paula would drink herself into oblivion. This is herway of escaping the hell that was her life with Charlo.

"Drink helped; drink calmed me. Drink gave me something to searchfor and do."

The novel is written in the first person, interspersed with her stream ofconsciousness, which takes us inside Paula's head. I think this shows us exactly'howshe is feeling, in all her different states of mind, which makes Paula a sympatheticand realistic character.

Doyle has also divided the novel into sections, which are not arranged inchronological order, and some of the sections are repeated several times through thebook. I think this mirrors Paula's state of mind, showing us how she is unable tothink straight and how mixed up she really is.

As an alcoholic, Paula becomes very confused. To show this, Doyle uses thepunctuation technique of putting full stops in the middle of sentences.

"I have two sisters and three brothers. I had another sister who died;I'm close to. my sisters. 11

In my opinion, the full stops are there to show Paula's mental confusion, as if she ispausing, struggling to clarify her thoughts. This is an effect of the long term violenceshe has been subjected to by Charlo.· .

"I couldn't think properly"

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Paula also deludes herself about her childhood. She remembers things verydifferently from her older sister, Carmel, who does not remember their childhood inthe happy way Paula does.

"It was a happy home. That's the way I remember it. Carmel doesn'tremember it like that"

CarmeI does not have fond memories of their father the way PauIa does and tries topoint out many of his bad points to Paula. However, Paula refuses to believe hersister. In my opinion, this shows how desperate Paula is to think of happy times shehad before Charlo became part of her life and also how she isn't going to let CharIogive ~er a prejudiced view of all men.

After his attacks Charlo often tried to convince Paula that her injuries had not beencaused by him. He told her that she had fallen or had walked into a door. As hecontinued to tell·her these stories Paula found herself starting to doubt her ownmemories.

"Do I actually remember that? Is that ~xactly how it happened? Didmy hair rip? Did my back scream?"

Sometimes Paula, like many abused women, even genuinely believed she was toblame.

"I provoked him. I was stupid. "

This was a symptom of her loss of self-esteem, the most damaging effect Charlo hadon her. Paula, who had been once been very confident, had become a shadow of herformer self due to CharIo's violence.

"He killed parts of me. He killed most of me. He killed all of me. "

Her lack of confidence also causes Paula to think she is good at nothing and willnever succeed in anything.

"I was hopeless, useless, good for f***n' nothing ... 1.was hopelessand stupid."

To me, this shows how Paula has started to believe all the insults Charlo directed ather during their years of marriage.

Despite her constant subjection to domestic abuse, Paula does try to regain somecontrol of her life. The thing that seems to keep Paula going is her four children.They seem to become a lifeline for her. She knows she has to survive for the sake ofthem and finds great comfort in them throughout the novel.

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"Whenever I feel really poor I always search for Jack '" Gettinghugged by Jack is like.nothing else in this world."

Sometimes when Paula is on one of her frequent hospital visits it seems as if she isgoing to tell someone what is happening and thus regain some control in her life.

However, her lack of self esteem leads her to back down at the last minute. Paulawants to be asked. She says she would tell if only they asked.

"J waited to be asked. Ask me. Ask me. As me. I'd tell her. I'd tellthem everything"

I feel.rhowever, that Paula is deluding again herself and, if asked, she would makeyet another excuse.

It was not only Paula who refused to face. up to what was happening. Her familyalso "saw nothing".

"My mother looked and saw nothing.,My father saw nothing. Mybrothers saw nothing ... The woman who kept walking into doors."

This excuse, which is also the title of the book, is the one Paula gave to medical staffwhen asked about her injuries.

It is Paula's love for her children that causes Paula finally to throw Charlo out oftheir home. When Charlo was annoyed at their eldest daughter, Nicola, Paula sawCharlo giving her a threatening look. It was the same look he had given her manytimes prior to his violent attacks. This is what made Paula snap. She had put up withhim abusing her but she was not going to let him ruin Nicola's life as well.

"He'd killed me and now it was Nicola. But no. No f***n' way"

Before physically throwing Charlo out of the door, Paula hit him on the head with afrying pan. In my opinion, this released a lot of the anger that had built up insidePaula and made her instantly feel better about life. .

"His blood on the floor. My finest hour ... I was something. I loved.Down on his head."

I was relieved when Paula finally threw Charlo out. I didn't think she wouldactually do it. Reading "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors" made me think aboutthe abuse Paula and many other woman suffer. I could not understand why she didnot throw him out sooner but I suppose the loye she felt for him and the fear she hadof him prevented her from doing so. I feel that Paula triumphed in the end' of thenovel. Her struggle to regain control was finally over and I think that she would goon to make a better life for her and her family without Charlo. .

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