The Hollow Man: Irony

Norman Partridge uses some irony within his short story "The Hollow Man", which describes a kind of parasitic monster that needs a human host. However, at the same time, it can fly around at will. Partridge uses irony by having his monster laugh at the sight of companions turning against companions and death. He uses irony with the monster's categorization of the four adventurers, saying that the monster "liked [Grizzly] best". It becomes irony because it is the opposite one would expect. Would anyone laugh at death and homicide? No sane human would ever laugh at something as grim as death or homicide. Another thing that was unexpected was for the monster to categorize it's victims on how much it liked them. Did Grendel ever say he liked Beowulf? Did Batman ever say he liked the Joker, the Penguin or Bane? Thus, this is quite an unexpected turn of events. However, later on in the story, we realize that the monster had good reason to like Grizzly, since he was, perhaps, the most fit for survival and the best host out of the four for the monster.
I think this story was very well written because it includes a lot of descriptive detail, which enhances the "showing not telling" theme that is prevalent in most short stories. Partridge also brought out the sinister nature of the monster with the monster's actions, like how the monster laughed at the traveller's predicament. Another thing that made the story grim was the description of the hollow man that the monster inhabited first. It seems like the hollow man had rings in his neck and it was basically a kind of pet of the monster, as well as an extension of the monster. Mixed with the irony Partridge uses, his story is memorable as a frightening account of a parasitic monster.