Good for nothing
When the narrator and Larry were discussing the plans of latter, Larry told him that the only one thing he wanted to do was “to loaf”. Sensing that Larry was not completely open with him, the narrator said that when people were “not good at anything else” they could always “become writers”. The irony was that the narrator was a writer himself.
High principles and happiness
Gray was madly in love with Isabel. He also wasn’t bad-looking, he had money, and he could eventually win Isabel’s heart if he was not as “high-principled” as he was. The irony of this situation was in the fact that high principles would definitely make one a good friend, but not necessarily a happy person.
A comfy coffin
Elliot liked to think of himself as of a noble person whose ancestors were great men of the past. He was obsessed with old traditions and details to such an extent that even his own approaching death couldn’t distract him from preparations. He bought “an early Christian sarcophagus” to put himself into and was extremely pleased with himself. The thing which worried him was that the coffin was too small for him and he had to lie “like a fetus” and that was “most uncomfortable”. The irony was that a dead man would hardly care about his comfort.
