"The Snail-Watcher"
This is one of Highsmith’s most famous stories not dealing with murder in the traditional sense. The title itself foreshadows the ironic ending of a man obsessed with the reproductive behavior of snails to the point of breeding them like pets, only to have his attention diverted just long enough for his beloved gastropods to turn on him in what is almost certainly the most gruesome scene Highsmith ever wrote.
"Music to Die By"
A deeply ironic tale of “going postal” in which a mailman with fantasies of doing just that—taking out his colleagues in a blaze of glory—ultimately winds up going to jail when a bomb actually does go off. Although he is innocent, his misanthropic personality allows everyone to easily believe him when he falsely confesses to the terrorist act.
"A Girl Like Phyl"
The irony is so pervasive in this story that it almost seems to collapse under the burdensome weight. On a narrative level, the story is entirely dependent upon the irony that Jeff’s success in the business world which has led to his meeting with the title character’s daughter who only exists because he tried so hard to become a success in her eyes led to his frequent absences during the relationship which pushed Phyl right back into the arms of the fiancé she had originally dumped in order to be with Jeff. Then there is the irony that discovering that the woman he lost twenty years earlier has turned out to be no great loss at all; a realization which stimulates Jeff to walk in front a speeding truck. On a meta-narrative level, the great irony of this story is that the woman whose presence is so important her name featured in the title winds up being a character hardly present at all in the actual narrative.
"Where the Action Is"
This is another story that derives its power from irony, but in this case the ironic elements have much deeper implications than the wasted life of a single individual. The story revolves around a single random moment in time when a photojournalist who just barely missed out on the big story snaps a photo of a young woman tangentially associated with that story. The irony here is that by being late to the actual story, this seemingly irrelevant decision transforms into the lucky break that leads to fame, fortune and a Pulitzer Prize.
Little Tales of Misogyny
The case for irony in Highsmith’s 1977 collection titled Little Tales of Misogyny is dependent upon perspective. Some critics regard this volume that is primarily filled with stories of woman being treated cruelly and more often than not dying by the end as reflecting the title sincerely rather than ironically. This view is based upon the acceptance that the ill-fated and put-upon women in these stories are generally portrayed as complicit accomplices in the patriarchal system that their narratives otherwise serve to indict. The case against irony is that the female victims attain no sense of redemption and fail even to have their value affirmed. The argument supporting the case that this collection seems to be so clearly intended as deeply corrosive irony almost need not be extended beyond the individual titles which the stores bear: “The Mobile Bed-Object,” “The Fully-Licensed Whore: Or, The Wife,” “The Perfect Little Lady,” “The Prude,” “Oona, the Jolly Cave Woman," and, of course, “The Victim.” Either Highsmith is engaging in a double reverse by giving each of the stories in Little Tale of Misogyny an obviously ironic title intended to divert attention away from the sincerity of the narrative, or the irony of those titles is the only sincere aspect associated with it.
