Situational irony-The Collective took over the spaceship
The most significant irony and the biggest plot point of the novel is the Collective taking over the spaceship on its way to Sagan. The Collective is a group of radical individuals who secretly infiltrated the spaceship before it took off, with the plan to completely erase the entire history of humanity and create a completely new interpretation of it, with hopes of preventing war and destruction. What makes this situational irony is that the existence of Collective is only vaguely mentioned at the beginning, and the entire mission (and the plot) is expected to go in the direction of planned survival of humanity and its adaptation on Sagan.
Irony of the Collective’s supposed motivation
The main idea that motivates the Collective is supposedly peace and the prevention of catastrophic mistakes that humanity committed on Earth. They strive for, and successfully create a unified community, with no differences because the assumption is that differences are what causes destruction and evil. Ironically, this group that fights for equality, prevention of life, and destruction of all things evil, is the one capable of doing the most evil, with complete disregard for individual human life. A single individual is a replaceable ware serving only for the benefit of the Collective.
The irony of Voxy
The most ironic character of the novel, Voxy, is a little boy who was born on the spaceship as a member of the Collective and groomed by Nyla to follow in her footsteps. All that aside, it is clear from the beginning that he is just a curious child eager to learn and explore the possibilities, and he is not meant for a sterile life of the Collective, despite his compromised epidermis that makes the outside world dangerous for him. He represents hope and proof that individualism and humanity can’t be erased, even with the best efforts.
