The Drunkard

            In “The Drunkard,” by Frank O’Conner, Mick Delaney and his son, Larry, go to a funeral of a neighborhood man and end the day at a pub. This is seemingly harmless, however Mick is an on-again-off-again alcoholic. He is in his “off-again” stage going into the funeral but is fully prepared to start his habits back up, as there are frequent warning signs that Larry recognizes throughout the day. They finally get to the pub and ironically it is not Mick who ends up getting drunk like the reader would expect, but Larry, who drinks all of his father’s alcohol while Mick isn’t looking. O’Conner uses the device of situational irony throughout the story to portray the central theme that it takes seeing one’s actions in someone else that one cares about to realize how destructive his/her behavior is.

            By definition, the meaning of situational irony is when the events of a story are the opposite of what the reader/audience expects to happen. This occurs in “The Drunkard.” Throughout the story there are several warning signs that Larry points out to the audience that Mick is on his path to destructive drinking. According to Larry, Mick “was becoming stuffed up with spiritual pride and imagining himself better than his neighbors” which leads to celebratory behavior (540). Another “danger signal,” as Larry puts it, is the presence of Peter Crowley, Mick’s common drinking buddy who was also an alcoholic. Crowley and Mick feed off each other, making their drinking habits worse.  O’Conner sets up warning signs for the reader to pick up on so that they are fully prepared to read a story about Mick getting incredibly drunk at this funeral. However, that is not what happens at all. Instead, it is Larry who gets drunk. This is supposed to shock the reader as much as it has shocked Mick. Larry’s behavior has changed so much by drinking his father’s alcohol. He is cursing, throwing up, and picking fights. This opens Mick’s eyes to the way alcohol has poisoned his son, especially when he takes Larry home. The whole street is outside of their homes looking at the spectacle and laughing at Larry’s drunkenness. Mick is horrified and worries what his wife will think of this mess. The whole debacle shows Mick what it is like to have to drag an obnoxiously drunk person home, something that his family has dealt with on multiple occasions. As he pulls Larry back home, he says “Never again, never again, not if I lived to be a thousand!” (545).  This outcry gives the reader the impression that Mick will never drink again. The situational irony that O’Conner has created in the story allows Mick to see what it is like to deal with himself in his inebriated state through having to deal with Larry. It also allows him to see what his wife has to deal with when the neighbors can see her taking care of Mick and are constantly judging her and her family. This follows the theme of seeing one’s actions in someone else that one cares about helps to realize how destructive his/her behavior is. Mick sees himself in Larry and is rudely awakened to this when bringing Larry home.

            O’Conner also employs situational irony at the end of the story. When Larry’s mother comes home, she has already heard of Larry’s drunkenness from the ladies on the road. She is incredibly angry with Mick, yelling at him and saying “the road knows the way [he] filled [his] unfortunate innocent child with drink to make sport for [him] and that other rotten, filthy brute” (545). She is infuriated by what transpired that day under Mick’s care and that is very evident to the readers. However, when she goes in to see Larry, she calls him “[her] brave little man! It was God did it you were there. You were his guardian angel” (546). This is completely unexpected. She is thanking him for getting drunk and causing Mick to come home and most likely swear off the drink forever. This is not something that the audience is expecting to hear from Larry’s mom, especially not gratitude. However, O’Conner’s use of irony shows how desperate she is to get Mick to stop drinking, even if it is at the expense of her son getting drunk. The use of situational irony in this case also ties into the central theme of the piece. The mother’s behavior of making excuses for her husband’s drinking is a destructive behavior. She is not dealing with Mick’s drinking problem and she sees this through Larry’s actions at the pub and walking back to go home.