Irony of "The Book of Miracles"
The story "The Book of Miracles" is a story of Anne and her family going to church for a Christmas ceremony. Anne is the wife of the unnamed dew breaker and mother of Ka. While in church, Ka suddenly appears to recognize one of the wanted Haitian militia leaders responsible for many gruesome deaths. She proceeds to throw comments to her father and mother and angrily staring at the back of the man's head. This was before the events from the first story and Ka is still unaware of her father's past, which makes this situation portrayed in this story filled with irony. After convincing herself that the man is not who they thought he was, Anne is relieved but it also leaves permanent consequences, as she decides to never attend the ceremony again, for the fear of someone recognizing her husband and pointing at him, just like her daughter did to that man.
Irony of the dew breaker's new chance in life
The dew breaker's past and his meeting of Anne are revealed in the final story. The reason he escapes from the prison and eventually bumps into Anne is that he shot one of the prisoners he shouldn't, a priest who happens to be Anne's half-brother. It is a portrayal of a cruel and ironic twist of fate that Anne ends up being his savior and reason to start a new life. It is implied that Anne is aware of the truth of what happened to her brother, but she refuses to admit it, most importantly admit it to herself.
Irony of Anne's justification of her husband
"The Dew Breaker" ends with Anne's expression of unhappiness in her self-sacrifice and dread she had to live with. She lived her life justifying her husband, forgiving him (because it is implied that she knows that he is the one who killed her brother, even though she never explicitly admits it) and now living with regret. She was his good angel, but how far does she have to go with playing the role of a good angel before she loses her own identity. This confusion and loss of identity are shown in her fear of losing contact with people around her, which is shown in her desperation to keep the call with her daughter going.
