Oil of Dog Bierce\'s Narrative Style

IRONY IN BIERCE'S OIL OF DOG

IRONY IN OIL OF DOG

IRONY IN BIERCE'S Oil OF DOG

Ambrose Bierce's Oil of Dog is a dark, macabre and humorous, even though it is a short story it is very rich, compact and filled with irony. The irony which is the dominant and most outstanding element in Oil of Dog functions in several significant and symbolic ways. Bierce presents to the reader an inverted or upside down world where right is wrong and wrong is right. He portrays his parents and their trade which is murder and thievery as honorable while at the same time presenting the righteous as guilty. The constable, a representative or law and order is described like this: "young as I was, I had learned that a constable's acts, of whatever apparent character are prompted by the most reprehensible motives" (12).

He also states that the town's people who appear to be honest are directly responsible for demise of their parent's business ventures. What is even more twisted and confused the blame he places on himself for the death of his parents. Even though the narrator is totally innocent and only acting with the natural naivety of a child he blames himself for the death of his parents "looking back upon those days, I cannot but regret, at times that by indirectly bringing my parents to their death I was the author of misfortunes profoundly affecting my future" (12). Although the narrator qualifies his level of responsibility in his parent's death by inserting the word "indirectly" it is plain to see that acting as a child he bears absolutely no responsibility for his parent's actions.

The irony is manifested through the vivid and innocent description of the behavior of the narrator's parents. Boffer Bing describes his parent's activities in a manner that is nostalgic and wholesome. He recalls his parents and their horrible activities with the innocence and purity that someone might use to describe a birthday with mom or a day at the fishing hole with Dad. This form of satire aims to reproach and reprehend parents who abuse children in the manner the Boffer Bing's parents abuse him. They abuse Boffer forcing him to witness death, darkness and evil on a daily basis and therefore ripping his innocence from him, while at the same time giving him the burden of guilt for their deaths. According to Sharon Talley Oil of Dog is a satirical tale "denouncing child abuse and the failure of society to acknowledge the problem and take action to protect children whose parent's practices are at odds with their professed beliefs or outward appearances" (8).