Rocky and the Girls
Rocky's treatment of Pearl and Margie is ironic because he insists that he is not a pimp because he has a real job, though he monitors their activity, takes a portion of their funds, and bosses them around and occasionally slaps them. The reader/audience cannot be sure if he is trying to convince the girls, or himself.
Irony - General
One critic, John Patrick Hughes, notes the irony in the members of activist and radical groups such as the IWW when it comes to loving mankind in the abstract and loving the individual man. Parritt's Mother does not treat her son very well but spends her efforts trying to reform society. Larry also notes how men in the Movement didn't want to be saved from themselves because they'd have to give up being greedy.
Irony - Hickey
Hickey arrives in the bar full of platitudes about knowing oneself, but he is unaware of how his own guilt and shame led him to kill his wife. His claim of insanity is ironic as well, given that he spent so much time talking about peace and awareness. His iceman joke is also ironic given his own infidelity.
Irony - Larry's speech
When Larry asks Hickey if he wants him to admit that life and death frighten him, he thinks he is joking; however, the irony in this speech is that it is the most honest thing Larry had said and indicates that yes, he is terribly afraid of these things.
