The unemployment funds
The unemployment funds are meant to help the youth and other people still seek employment to sustain themselves. But, ironically, Mark and his friends use the same funds to consume heroin, a prohibited drug! As if that is not enough, Mark and his friends have more than two addresses to get more unemployment funds from different states to fund their drug addiction.
The heroin party
The heroin party is expected to be a happy event with a satisfying ending. Mark and his friends are eagerly waiting for the party's date. Finally, the party's date arrives, and all participants seem happy. But, disdainfully, Williamson's daughter dies while partying and abusing heroin. Consequently, the much-anticipated party ends sadly, which contradicts the earlier expectations.
The irony of sexual relationships
Sexual relationships are meant to be happy, and that is the unqualified expectation of Begbie. Begbie is the main drug supplier to the gang that Mark and his friends belong to. Begbie has a girlfriend, and he boasts about her to everyone. But, incongruously, Begbie’s girlfriend is cheating on him with another man! When Begbie learns about his girlfriend's cheating behavior, he relapses and refuses to believe that she can go behind his back.
The irony of vengeance
The reader finds it ironic that some characters use revenge as a form of satisfaction. When Mark relocates to London, he joins Davie and learns that he is HIV positive. David is infected with HIV by a man who is currently missing. Mark helps Davie to trace the man who infected him with HIV, and they kill him. The reader learns that Mark and Davie are very happy after killing the man, but they take little regard for curative and preventive measures.
The irony of rehabilitation
Mark is taken to rehabilitation to stop his drug addiction and concentrate on productive activities to better his future. Ironically, Mark gets out of the rehabilitation center a worse person than he used to be. After rehabilitation, Mark goes back to drug addiction, and this time he is the dealer. Therefore, the reader fails to comprehend the meaning of rehabilitation in Mark's life.
