Role Reversal!!

The irony present in the short story The Drunkard is what leads to a lot of the humor. For example, there is a huge role reversal in the story. Normally, the wife and the son have to put up with the father's occasional drinking problem. They knew that they would have to watch out for funerals because that is what the would use as an excuse to drink. So the mother put the son in charge of watching the father. This isn't the main role reversal, but kind of is one because one would expect the father to be watching over the son, but instead the son (who apparently is 9) is the one who is told to watch over his own father. When the father takes his son to the bar, the son ends up being the one who gets drunk and his father has to angrily escort him home. So this is where the irony plays in, becuase it is very ironic that the father is having to watch over his drunk. So the author then plays off this irony and makes it even more humorous by having the son say innappropriate things that are not expected.