Irony of the Psychologist (Situational Irony)
The psychologist is the leader of the Twelfth Expedition, and the other members of the group are supposed to trust her to lead them and stay true to the plan. Ironically, the psychologist does precisely the opposite: she forces them into danger using the power of hypnotic suggestion, causing the death of the anthropologist, and manipulates them into getting what she wants, though her goals are themselves quite ambiguous. She eventually deserts the remaining women and heads to the lighthouse, where, driven by insanity, she jumps off the top. Even dying, though, she keeps secrets from the biologist and tries to command her to commit suicide, making her an ironic leader figure.
Irony of the Twelfth Expedition (Situational Irony)
As the novel progresses, the reader discovers that the "Twelfth Expedition" is, in fact, ironically not the twelfth expedition at all; there have been far more previous expeditions than the eleven they were told about. Everything the biologist was told is a lie, and this discovery is especially shocking: the explorers weren't even allowed to know their own true identity in the grand scheme of the Southern Reach.
Irony of the Mutations (Situational Irony)
As the biologist travels through Area X, she sees many strange entities: dolphins with human eyes, dead foxes, and floral constructions shaped like humans. After she takes and examines samples from these things, however, she realizes that they are constructed of human cells: both the animals and the human-shaped trees were actually, at one point, humans, which Area X has claimed for its own and molded into something else entirely.
Let's Have a Picnic (Verbal Irony)
As the psychologist lays dying, she tells the biologist how rapidly she's changing. The biologist refuses to acknowledge out loud the fact that she's undergoing serious, rapid biological changes. The psychologist replies, "Of course you’re not [changing]. You’re just becoming more of what you’ve always been. And I’m not changing, either. None of us are changing. Everything is fine. Let’s have a picnic" (127). She's clearly being sarcastic in the face of their grave circumstances; everything in Area X is constantly evolving and changing.
