As If This Were a Victory (Situational Irony)
When Ruth learns that Francis has been hanging out at Desirea's, a barbershop, she reacts negatively to the news. Believing that Francis is associating with criminals, Ruth slaps him in the face as a punishment for the choices he has been making. Michael observes Francis's odd reaction to the hit: "His eyes blinking with hurt and surprise, a thin red line welling on his skin. Until his eyes changed and he smiled. As if this, somehow, were a victory." In this instance of situational irony, rather than look upset or wounded, Francis smiles after being slapped, suggesting that he is satisfied to have provoked their mother to violence.
From Mississauga (Situational Irony)
In the present-day storyline, Michael works at the local Easy Buy supermarket. During one shift he meets a new employee who only responds with nods. Assuming the man can't speak English—a common enough occurrence in multicultural Scarborough—Michael politely tries to connect with the man by testing phrases he's learned in Tamil, Tagalog, and Spanish. Finally, the man says, "Look, bitch. I’m from Mississauga." In this instance of situational irony, the author undermines the reader's expectations by revealing that the man grew up in a nearby town and speaks English perfectly well—he just doesn't want to have to make small talk with his new coworker.
Send Local Suspects Home (Situational Irony)
In the wake of Anton's death, Michael reads newspaper articles about the shooting. He notes that many of the opinion columns take the incident as justification for calling for immigrants involved in the shooting to be deported to their homelands, despite the fact that the shooting suspects are from the greater Toronto area and thus are Canadian citizens. In this instance of situational irony, Michael highlights the illogic of the prejudiced newspaper columnists who obscure the facts of the shooting to push an anti-immigrant agenda that baselessly smears immigrants as criminals.
Aisha Breaks a Cop Car Window (Situational Irony)
On one of the days following Anton's shooting, Michael and Aisha are out walking in the scorching sun. Although he has only ever known Aisha as a top student who is well-behaved, she picks up a piece of broken asphalt and throws it at the window of a parked police cruiser, cracking the glass. In this instance of situational irony, Aisha shocks Michael with an act of anti-authority rebellion that breaks with the pattern of behavior she has exhibited throughout her life.
