Irony of Naomi Nakane as the main character
It is strange that Naomi is the main character in the novel as there is so little that she actually shares about herself. Most of the novel is told through her narration and she gives a fair amount of insight into the emotions that each family member goes through. She doesn’t divulge much of herself however and her character remains a sort of blank palette from which events unfold.
Irony of Aunt Emily
Aunt Emily, the Nakane family’s odd bird is a crusader through and through. She is extremely vocal about a great many causes, equal rights, feminism, and fair employment practices for migrants and so on. Being a second-generation migrant, or Nisei, she is still busy being the banner bearer of her causes: righting the wrongs inflicted upon Japanese migrants to Canada. For all her fire and brimstone however herself is tight-lipped about her own hurts and deep-seated sense of loss over her sister.
Irony of Stephen
Stephen receives a fair amount of bullying in the form of being physically beaten in school and being socially ostracized. When he begins to show his immense musical talents however and starts to win awards things change significantly for him. Suddenly, the school is more accepting of it, some girls even begin to follow him around as he practices the piano. This hundred and eighty degree turn however comes when he gains national recognition for his piano playing and now the local papers embrace him as “one of their own.”
Irony of Naomi's Parents
Naomi’s recall of her parents is a sketchy matter. It is a patchwork of fuzzy memories due to her youth at the time of their migration. Another reason that her recall is so poor is because her family had actually gone through some difficult, downright traumatic experiences during their stay in Canada so many of these awful memories had been suppressed by her mind. As such it is quite strange that Naomi has such a high regard--practically deifying--parents despite having no clear memories of them.
Irony of Integration
Integration, at least in as much as the novel posits, seems to be a zero-sum equation. This means to say that there is no way for an individual to be accepted as a full Canadian citizen without first discarding your ethnicity.
