Happy to belong
The protagonist is happy to be one of the Pommeroys. He says that his family is the source of his strengths. He is “happy to recall” that he is a Pommeroy, that he has “the nose, the coloring, and the promise of longevity.” Even though they are “not a distinguished family” enjoy the illusion, when they are together, they the Pommeroys are “unique.” The irony of this fact is that almost every family likes enjoying this illusion that they are unique which means that they are as ordinary as others.
Pretenders
Lawrence possesses a rather strange ability to make people around him feel nervous or unhappy. Even his mother can’t put up with that strange feature of her son. She is not comfortable around him. When the narrator enters the house, he sees Lawrence standing in the living room, “talking with Mother and Diana.” The women are “in their best clothes and all their jewelry.” They welcome him “extravagantly,” but there is “a faint tension in the room.” The irony is that no matter how much everyone tries to ignore the old conflict, it is still present.
Same old story
When the protagonist carries Lawrence’s “heavy suitcases up the stairs,” he realizes that their dislikes are as “deeply engraved” as their “better passions.” He remembers that once, “twenty five years ago”, he hit Lawrence on the head with the rock. Lawrence picked himself up and ran to their father to complain. The irony is that the protagonist still remembers it. They don’t have any happy memory together; all they have are mutual dissatisfaction with each other. They can’t move on, for none of them have forgotten old grudges.
