"The Drunkard"

There is plenty of irony to discuss in this blog, so here it goes. One of the most obvious, of course, would be the young boy getting plastered, cussing at old women ("Go away, ye bloody bitches!" pg 350), and stumbling down the street on his way home. How often do you see that? I mean, nobody would ever look at the boy and think the situation was normal. Another example of irony is how the father talks about the funeral. It is almost as if he is excited to attend the funeral of his good friend instead of mourning over his death. He even dares to call the funeral, "excellent". He sort of compares the funeral to some sort of social event he is attending, and uses it as an excuse to drink himself away at a bar. One last irony I found within the story was how for years, the family has been embarrassed by the father's drunk behavior, and his spending of money when he is on these drinking binges. However, when walking down the street with his son, the father is now the one who is embarrassed. He says, "Twill be all over the road...Never again, never again, not if I live to be a thousand!" (page 350)