The Drunkard
by Frank O' Connor

The whole story Larry talked about how alcohol was his father's weakness and the problems this caused their family. Mick, Larry's father, would stay sober for a while but end up drinking after a funeral and end up drinking nonstop for a while until he ran out of money. Therefore, for most of the story Larry talks about Mick going to a funeral and how he had to stop him from drinking. However, ironically, during the course of the story Mick never actually gets drunk. The entire story is spent talking about how he is an alcoholic but he never once actually gets drunk during the story. Instead, his son Larry is the one who gets drunk. "The idea occurred to me that it would be interesting to know what the contents were like. He had his back to it and wouldn't notice. I took down the glass and sipped cautiously." He goes on to drink the whole pint of beer because he likes the feeling. However, his other motive was to keep his dad from getting drunk and starting the cycle all over again. Because Larry kept his dad from drinking but got drunk himself the title, "The Drunkard" is about Larry, not Mick. Mick never even had a sip of alcohol.