Morning of September 11, 2001 (Dramatic Irony)
In the opening chapter of Ground Zero, Brandon and his father arrive at the World Trade Center. At the end of the chapter, security issues Brandon an ID badge with the date September 11, 2001. In this instance of dramatic irony, readers with historical knowledge of 9/11 know that Brandon and Leo are walking into a building that in several minutes will be attacked by terrorists. While the characters remain oblivious, the reader anxiously watches them go about their morning as though it is a normal Tuesday.
The Taliban Planted the Rumor (Dramatic Irony)
At the beginning of Reshmina's storyline, she and her brother rush back to their house to understand why the Afghan National Army and American soldiers are searching villagers' homes. The translator explains that the soldiers are searching homes because they heard the Taliban has hidden a cache of weapons in the village. Privately, however, Pasoon tells Reshmina that the Taliban planted the rumor of hidden weapons to lure the ANA and the Americans into an ambush. In this instance of dramatic irony, the reader and Reshmina know that the Americans and ANA soldiers have walked into a trap and are about to be killed.
No Way a Steel Structure Is Coming Down (Dramatic Irony)
More than an hour after escaping the elevator he was trapped in when the first plane hit, Brandon reaches the ground floor of the North Tower. However, police direct him and others away from the main exit and through an underground tunnel. When a man asks about the building collapsing on them while they're underground, a policewoman shakes her head and says, "It’s a steel structure. No way it’s coming down. Go on—trust me, you’ll be safer down there." In this instance of dramatic irony, readers with hindsight knowledge of the event know that the policewoman is wrong: despite most people's belief that the steel Twin Towers wouldn't collapse, they did, creating a horrific spectacle. Having injected this tension into the story, Gratz leaves the reader to wonder whether Brandon will make it out of the underground passage before the collapse.
Taz's Real Name is Brandon (Situational Irony)
Toward the end of Reshmina's storyline, Taz, the wounded American soldier her family has risked their lives giving refuge to, explains that his first name is actually Brandon, and his original surname was Chavez. In this instance of situational irony, Gratz undermines the reader's expectations by revealing that a grownup version of Brandon Chavez has been present in Reshmina's subplot as "Taz Lowery" for the entire novel.
