Toy Monkey (Dramatic Irony)
Audiences likely walked into Rebel Without A Cause expecting a film about teenage delinquency, recklessness, and violence. Although we first glimpse Jim Stark lying down drunk in the road, his first gesture is actually neither violent not rebellious, but gentle and sincere: he is tending to a toy monkey, which he pleads to be able to keep upon arriving at the police station. Jim's tenderness here likely subverted audience's expectations of a "rebel" character, and foreshadows Jim's tending to Plato's lifeless body at the end of the film.
Chickie-Run (Dramatic Irony)
Buzz initially challenges Jim to a knife-fight after being goaded into it by the rest of the gang, and seemingly only challenges him to a chickie-run to protect his own reputation after losing the former competition. Thus, Buzz and Jim's rivalry is set in motion by the other members of the gang, not by any personal animosity harbored between the two. The gang's bloodthirstiness becomes a proxy for that of the audience. The film critiques masculinity's violent rituals and spectacles—which draw mass audiences in real life and onscreen—by showing how hollow and impersonal they truly are. Buzz admits to Jim he likes him moments before he and Jim start the chickie-run—an ironic acknowledgment of the meaninglessness of the race.
"Drown them like puppies." (Verbal Irony)
Jim delivers these lines in an exaggerated Mr. Magoo voice as he and Judy are discuss the meddlesomeness of children, while they pretend to be a couple and tour the abandoned mansion. The line sarcastically conveys the hostile regard in which the adults in the film hold the children and teenagers. Rather than convey a sincere answer to Judy's question ("What should we do with [children]?"), Jim's line reflects the banality of an uncaring, dismissive adult figure, such as Plato's parents who have abandoned him, or Judy's father who abjures her very body. The line is likely also a reference to Plato's criminal record, mentioned in the film's first scene, which includes an offense for drowning puppies.
Failed Father Figures (Dramatic Irony)
Rebel Without A Cause is a film about the failures of various fathers and father figures, which provides the foundation for its various scenes of youthful rebellion. The film asks the audience to empathize and perhaps even identify with Jim's rejection of his own father's authority, culminating in a scene in which Jim throttles his father. Although Jim's behavior is a reaction to the failure of the fathers and father figures around him, he becomes a failed father figure himself in relation to Plato. The audience realizes before Jim does that Plato's panic attack at the end of the film is induced by childlike feelings of abandonment, given Plato's feelings toward Jim as a father figure. This creates a sense of irony, as the failure of father figures leads once more to violence: Plato fearfully shoots at Jim, just like Jim attacked his own father, and tried punching the detective at the beginning of the film.
Plato Wearing Jim's Jacket (Dramatic Irony)
When Plato runs out of the observatory and is shot by police, he is wearing Jim's signature red windbreaker. Approaching the scene afterward, Jim's father comments, "When I saw Jim's jacket, I thought..." before trailing off. The irony here consists in the fact that Jim's father thought he was witnessing Jim being killed, whereas the audience was aware that it was in fact Plato. Perhaps because he traumatically witnesses Jim's symbolic death, Jim's father appears deeply shaken and promises that he will "stand up" for Jim in the future. He realizes the extent to which his passive, distant relationship with his son has put him at dire risk.
