The Title
The onslaught of irony begins with the title. One would likely go into a theater with expectations of a good time when seeing a play titled Happy Days. A good time can be had in the theater, but it is not being enjoying by the characters onstage. And, to be completely honest, there is noting that Winnie says throughout the entirety of her monologue that indicates the title refers to her life before we catch her stuck in the dirt.
If She's the Win-nie...Who's the Win-ner?
Although rarely used, a person that a mentor advises is actually called a mentee. (Look it up if you don’t believe it.) Employer and employee is a more familiar example of this use of a suffix to indicate opposites. So by this logic, what would the opposite of “winner” be? Happy Days is filled with wordplay: would the title Happy Daze not also be appropriate? So it is certainly not beyond interpretation to suggest that great irony exists in the name of the protagonist, especially in light of Willie's last--barely audible--line.
The Most Ironic Opening Line Ever?
When the lights go up on stage, Winnie is buried to her waste and barely capable of movement. Her first line—spoken without a trace of awareness of the irony—is: “Another heavenly day.” If that is not at least a contender for the most ironic opening line in the history of drama, what else could be?
Speaking of Names
Speaking of names, what else could be the guiding literary principle behind the name of Winnie’s husband other than irony? Willie seems to possess no will at all for most of the play. And then, when he finally manages to work up a little, he apparently expends it all on the process of dressing for the occasion. Or, looked at from another perspective, the irony might be entirely symbolic: one interpretation could be that Willie is not Winnie’s husband, but her own will which has been co-opted by the all-controlling bell. There is also one last ironic dimension to his name. Regarding the revolver on the ground: will he or won’t he?
Winnie and the Bag
Winnie’s bag contains lipstick, brush, comb, mirror, toothbrush, toothpaste, a hat, music box, and other assorted items of domestic maintenance. While half her buried lies hopelessly buried in the earth, the only item that would be of any recognizably practical use to her—the gun—goes unused.
