The Drunkard

"'Twill be all over the road,' whimpered Father. 'Never again, never again, not if I live to a thousand!'" -"The Drunkard"

     It's amazing how a lack of weird, cynical characters really adds to the intended effect of humor in a work. Mick and Harry are definitely much more respectable and relatable people than Zoe in "You're Ugly, Too." While I found the young, drunk Harry plot element funny, I think that irony does much more for Mick Delaney than for his son. When I stepped back and looked at the story as a whole, it became clear that Mick is surrounded by the fruits of hard work and strong morals. He gets the advantage of seeing life from his own perspective, which towards the end is mostly hindsight. I think Harry's getting drunk showed Mick the foolishness and overall stupidity of his own habits. Here he is at the beginning, friends with an extremely bright man with insight on every piece of information ever come across. The story then goes on to explain how Mick himself was very frugal and intelligent in building his own wealth. Mick is contrasted with Peter Crowley, a quasi-crook and conoisseur of drinks himself. Then Harry gets drunk. I think the above quote illustrates Mick's epiphany on the way home that he is surrounded by examples of successful people and he himself, at heart, is a strong individual. He realizes he can't let alcohol lord over him like it does, and he certainly doesn't want his son to end up like himself. The humor in the story actually serves as a cause of motivation for Mick Delaney.