Irony is a literary device that involves a gap between expectation and reality. “The Jolly Corner” employs irony on multiple levels, beginning with its title, which references Spencer Brydon’s childhood home. Its name implies that this setting would be cheerful or optimistic; however, it is exactly the opposite. Brydon has come into the possession of his ancestral home through the death of various family members, including his two brothers. The house is therefore associated with loss and mourning, although Brydon initially regards it fondly, through the lens of nostalgia for his childhood. This hints at a degree of self-absorption, as does another ironic element: that the house, in which he senses an “unexpected occupant,” turns out to be haunted not by one of Brydon’s deceased relatives but by his own alter ego.

The irony of the house’s cheerful name is further compounded after Brydon’s encounter with that alter ego, which deeply disturbs him. There is also irony in the fact that a house that evokes New York City’s less urbanized past should be the residence of Brydon’s alter ego, whom he imagines to be a businessman at home in the modern city.