The very eyes of the professional observers
When the narrator tells about changes of the "New American Negro," he notices that there have always been three so called “norms” who have been carrying about the problem of the Negro. Those people decided the fate of black people in all aspects of social life. These norms were The Sociologist, The Philanthropist and The Race-leader. The "poor Negro" has constantly been under the very eyes of the professional observers but, as it happens, these “professional” observers couldn’t realize the nature of recent changes. The irony is used with the purpose of underestimation of the importance of such “observers”.
The popular melodrama
The image of the "Old Negro" was created in the minds of Americans not only according to their own experience but as well from different fiction books which formed the concepts of Uncle Tom and Sambo, Colonel, and George and many other characters which showed the black person in “all his beauty”. And even after many years have passed, it is still difficult for American society to forget about these “popular melodrama” and realize that the "real Negro" and his image in literature are completely different. The irony is used in order to give the historical background of the current situation and understate the influence of imposed images.
Transplantation
When the author describes the process of shifting of the black population from South to the other parts of the country, he highlights how those people influenced the life of other people and the whole country and how the new realities of life influenced them (negroes). He (the author) calls the process of shifting of the black population their “transplantation” which gives a shade of irony to the utterance. In such a way he wants to highlight that this process was artificial and painful for both locals and negroes – they met new life and new people and they have to deal with that and as a result – to transform.
The sick man of American Democracy
The African American of today wants to be known for what he is, even if he is not perfect and even not best. He resents being spoken of as a social ward or mirror or be regarded a chronic patient for the sociological clinic, says the author. Behind all these “diseases” is hidden a person, just like millions other in America. And he wants to be understood and accepted, not studied. But, being blind with the desperate struggle for the rights and justice, Americans completely forgot about the black person himself, about his needs and desires, he is just “the sick man of American Democracy”. The irony is used for the description of American society and its values which may be needless for the person.
