The Irony in O

             The Irony in O"conner's Surprise story.
             There are many perceptions of a grandmother throughout the world, most include .
             loving, caring, considerate, passionate, and the most unselfish. In O"conners view point, .
             his description of a grandmother is quite different, which is what throws the reader off. .
             Throughout his story the grandmother is the cause of all of the harm done to her family .
             and she seemingly only cares about her own well being. But with our own innocent .
             perception of a grandmother we are not prepared for what O"conner has in store for us. .
             He uses irony in many ways to work his way up to his surprise ending. Three different .
             kinds of irony to be specific, verbal, situational, and dramatic irony. O"conners use of .
             these three kinds of irony in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is effective in relation to the .
             suprising ending of this story. .
             Verbal irony is stressing the importance of an idea by stating the opposite of what .
             is meant. There are many instances in the story where O"conner uses verbal irony .
             make his shocking ending. One instance is at the end of the story, when the grandma and .
             the misfit are having and in depth conversation, they seem to be fighting over the power .
             of the conversation. O"conner gives you many instances when the grandmother is in .
             control of the conversation with the misfit. For one instance, the grandmother is .
             standing over the misfit at one point, looking down on him asking him "do you ever .
             pray?" He answers no but he tries saving his answer by telling her that he was a gospel .
             singer for a while. She is in control here. But in reality she is not. The misfit is going to .
             kill her and she has no control over that. So O"conners use of verbal irony here is making .
             the grandmother seem in control of the conversation when in reality she is not in control .
             of the situation or "predicament" she is in. Another use of verbal irony in the story is .
             again in the ending.