Sephy calls Callum when he's being arrested (Dramatic Irony)
As she becomes more disenchanted with her family and the way society at large works, Sephy decides to go away to boarding school. When she calls Callum to tell him, she's annoyed that he doesn't pick up so she can tell him the big news. However, Callum can't pick up because his house has been tear-gassed and his family has been arrested. In an example of dramatic irony, the reader—having read about the McGregors being attacked—knows that the stakes of Sephy's "big news" are, in the scheme of things, quite low.
Forcing Sephy and Callum apart brings them together (Situational Irony)
At the outset of the novel, the McGregor and Hadley families have a falling out, after which Callum and Sephy are forbidden from seeing each other. However, their families' harsh decisions (plus their refusal to explain themselves) inspire Callum and Sephy to meet in secret for years. As a result, Callum and Sephy develop an unsupervised, extremely intimate relationship; additionally, Callum and Sephy learn that their parents might not always make the best decisions for them, becoming independent from their families and society. In this example of situational irony, the act of forcing Sephy and Callum apart puts them on an even more direct path toward an autonomous, society-defying relationship.
Meggie trying to save her children dooms them all (Situational Irony)
From the beginning, Meggie is very against her family getting involved in the L.M.; in an example of tragic situational irony, every action she takes to save her children pushes them further from safety. When she tries to kick Ryan out of the house, Jude sides with him; when she attacks Ryan, her injury indirectly gives the police Jude's DNA, resulting in Ryan's imprisonment; when she tells Jude her grandfather was a Cross, she radicalizes him further; and when she tries to keep Callum out of the struggle, his resulting loneliness and boredom contribute to him joining the L.M. as well. Meggie's attempts to save her children culminate in her never seeing Callum again, in a sad example of situational irony.
Callum imagines a world made by noughts (Dramatic Irony)
On his last day, Callum speaks to Jack about something he ponders often: what if noughts had determined society's direction, instead of Crosses? He tells Jack what he'd expect that society to be. There would have been no slavery, no inequality. Everyone, regardless of skin color, would have equal access to health care; there would be fair police and justice systems, with no discrimination; noughts and Crosses alike would have equal access to education, job opportunities, luxury, travel, safety, and joy.
The irony of Callum's dream is that we, as readers, live in the world where light-skinned people have largely determined society's direction. Dark-skinned people were enslaved, and in many parts of the world they experience inequality, discrimination, and violence on the basis of identity. In this example of dramatic irony, the reader knows more than the character—and this irony allows us to imagine how we can improve our world to be more like Callum's dream.
