The Funeral
It is a situational irony that the funeral of Paul’s father was conducted against his beliefs. Paul and Chen who was a long life friend of the father of Paul knew before had that he (Paul’s father) would not have liked the funeral that he was given. Even with the information that Paul's father would have preferred another funeral perhaps a one with fewer people than the ones attended, the funeral was done against his beliefs.
The Vietnamese War
The narrator is bitter towards the purpose and effects of the Vietnamese War. The reasoning of the Vietnamese War that is given is ‘To save lives and win a city, shell and bomb the sacred history of the Hue back to the Stone Age. Six thousand residents in the rubble and and one hundred and twenty thousand wander homeless.’ It is ironical that the killing of six thousand residents of the city of Hue was done for the purpose of saving others.
The Gate Pass
At the university where Paul was a student and Chen was a professor, there were many students activists. In one of the meetings of activists, the gate pass was skin color. If a student was white, they were not allowed to listen to the speaker even if they were fighting for the cause or understood the plight of people of color. The activists should allow all people to join in the activism and not discriminate as they have been inclusive in order to build an inclusive world.
The Reaction of the Police to the Student’s Strike
The students of the university that Paul studied in went on strike. The strike was meant to address the issues of the people of color at the university. The police responded to the peaceful strike by arresting the activists and beating innocent by standers in the school.
The Establishment of Ethic Studies in University A and B
The narrator gives an anecdote of University A and University B. Both universities are situated in America. In order to get a department that teaches Ethnic Studies, the students had to go on strike to get the universities to teach that course. It is ironical that the universities were pushed into giving the students a department of Ethic studies rather than establish the department when they were asked to.
