"My Oedipus Complex" by Frank O'Connor
...aceful period in his life. A young child would normally not be able to use irony in this manner. Obviously, someone that thinks that one has to buy a baby must not be very educated, or very young. Next, the humor is expressed in the form of the story’s conflict. This main, central conflict is the constant struggle for Mother’s attention by both Larry and his father. Larry wakes his father up 3 nights in a row despite Mother’s constant pleading, “Don’t-Wake-Daddy!” Larry also even says, when father is trying to sleep one night, “I wanted to talk, he wanted to sleep—whose house was it, anyway?” Lastly, the most ironic and humorous part of this short story is the surprise ending. Both Larry and Father look like they are going to keep this constant warfare, but at the end, neither wins. Both men are alienated when Father is kicked out of Mother’s room to make for Sonny. Lastly, the most ironic part of the conflict is the result. Sonny, a second child is born. As a...