The irony of identity and past
This novel includes one of the most beautiful renditions of a classic irony that appears in immigrant literature, the question of ethnic identity. Instead of going through the endless, circuitous exercises of trying to figure out who you are, the narrator simply describes her strange, magical experiences with the pictures of her family back home. This is an ironic image—the reader expects to learn about the emotional journey from "feeling Vietnamese," to "feeling American," but instead, we see a child, perplexed by the past, with more emotional clarity and humility than most—so much so that she often loses herself entirely, a statement of ego-lessness.
The irony of the father's strength
As an alcoholic and potentially abusive father, it seems unlikely that a daughter would have such a warm love for her father, and she does treat him as a hero in the novel, but not for his time in the war, or as a Buddhist gangster. Instead, she commends him for his daily bravery, living a difficult life with unspeakable emotional issues. She chooses to see the best of him, and it helps shape her into the powerful, resilient person that she identifies with later in life.
The irony of the pool
Life is difficult, but any apartment-dweller knows a secret, especially the children who grow up in apartments. They know that secretly, everything is fine, since they get to go swimming. Remember, they lived in a bright red apartment complex in San Diego with a pool and beautiful palm trees. It's an image of paradise. And ironically, that means they're not allowed to keep it. Everyone loses the pool because the angry landlord decided to punish the entire community for the sins of two children. This ironic loss of the pool is also a metaphor for the unfair treatment of immigrants in America.
The irony of a Buddhist gangster
Can you think of two more opposite things than a Buddhist monk and a criminal of the organized underworld? This is a beautiful juxtaposition, and the obvious irony helps the author to show her father as a dual person. On one side, he is kind of rough, and he's prone to anger and panic. But on the other side, he is deeply spiritual, and when he begins to feel overwhelmed, he often goes back to his Buddhist roots, spending entire evenings silently meditating. He's an ironic person.
The irony of the lost brother
This story includes a reference to the father as a survivalist, someone from such a dark situation that his very existence is a testament to his power. And yet, there is another child who is almost never mentioned, a grown son who died in Vietnam. So there is a dual narrative of life and death, where one child represents life and the ravenous hunger for experience, and on the other side, the brother represents death and the complete silence of the dark waters of the unknown beyond death.
