Irony of the cure
Tally and Zane make a quick decision to share the two pills members of the New Smoke left for Tally to cure her. Zane ended up having headaches caused by the cure while Tally is left unscathed. The cure apparently worked for both of them. The funny thing is, as we learn at the end, the pills only work if one takes both of them together meaning that the pill Tally took is essentially useless which means that Tally cured herself; she basically thought herself out of the pretty-mindedness. From the example of being bubbly, it can be concluded that for a person to be cured they have to want to be cured. The effect of being bubbly didn't work on Peris because he didn't want to be cured, the effect of cutting worked for Shay in an extreme way leading her to become a special.
Irony of Tally and Shay's friendship
Shay starts to break down once she starts remembering her life before becoming pretty and discovering the truth about the cure. She accuses Tally of being selfish and shallow even before the operation. Shay's point of view is justifiable because Tally did go after her to the Smoke to betray her even if she changed her mind later on, and not sharing the cure with Shay only added fuel to the fire. But despite that, Tally became a pretty at the end of the first novel to test the cure for Shay's sake even knowing the risks. Aside from Tally's complicated love stories it appears that her relationship with Shay is the most complex one; even at the end of the novel when Shay appears as a special-her anger towards Tally pushed her into becoming one and now she is about to drag Tally with her once again.
Andrew's irony
Andrew is a sort of a prophet that talks to gods who arrive to the hunters' camp. This occupation appears to be his family tradition. As Tally is about to leave the reservation where the camp is located, she tells Andrew to not look at her as she were a god. They are both human. Andrew answers that he knows this but he can't do anything because people like Tally are so powerful. This man lives a life that is only an experiment; his father's death being a part of it.
