Wise Blood

Wise Blood Irony

"Make yourself at home" (30)

Hazel's first visit to Mrs. Leora Watts makes a disturbing parody out of two of the most important parts of Hazel's life: his home and his mother. Her referring to herself as "Momma" and telling him to make himself at home are part of the same mocking kind of behavior that will eventually make her deface Hazel's hat, the symbol of his religiosity; although Hazel threw himself into this lurid satire of his own life at first, he does not remain in it indefinitely.

Hazel getting his car fixed

At the end of Chapter 6, Hazel visits two garages to get his car fixed; the mechanic at the first tells him that his car cannot be fixed, contradicting Hazel's firm belief in the goodness of his car. Thus, Hazel consider him a bad mechanic, whereas he considers the mechanic at the second garage better simply because he gives him a more optimistic estimate and confirms his opinion. However, it is apparent that someone who claims to be "the best mechanic in town" is just cheating Hazel.

Hazel "returns home" dead

At the very end of the novel, Hazel is returned to Mrs. Flood's house having been killed by a night in the rain and the policeman's baton, though Mrs. Flood does not realize that he is already dead. In that respect, her telling his corpse that he is finally home is true, though not in the way that she means: he has settled into his eternal home outside of this life.

"Then he checked his ugly tone and stretched his mouth a little, remembering that he was going to seduce her." (115)

None of Hazel's relations with women are particularly pleasant, least of all his relationship with Sabbath. His reluctance to go after the girl who obviously shows interest in him, something which most would consider the least questionable and most desirable, makes for a comical situation. His earlier assertion that he would seduce the girl is upending by her pursuit - she is not the innocent Hazel seeks to corrupt, and he is not aggressive or wicked enough to corrupt.