Horse Weed Standin' Chin-High (Situational Irony)
After Ree goes to relatives to ask about her missing father, Blond Milton picks her up and brings her to a charred house. He explains that it was a meth-cooking lab that burned down. He also says it was the last place anyone saw Ree's father, implying that Jessup perished in the fire. Ree gets out of the truck to investigate before quickly returning to her seat. While Milton believes he has convinced her, Ree eventually reveals that she knows he is lying because there is "horse weed standin' chin-high" inside the shell of the house. In this instance of situational irony, it is obvious Jessup couldn't have died in the house because the overgrown plants indicate that it burned down many months before he disappeared.
Mrs. Thump Helps Ree (Situational Irony)
Toward the end of the novel, Mrs. Thump and her sisters arrive on the Dollys' doorstep with an offer of help. The promise to show her Jessup's corpse is unexpected given that Thump led an attack against Ree a few days earlier. While Ree is disinclined to trust the woman, in this instance of situational irony, Mrs. Thump makes good on her promise and begrudgingly helps Ree prove Jessup's death to the authorities, thereby saving the Dolly family home.
Ree Lies to Baskin (Dramatic Irony)
After cutting her father's hands off his corpse so she can prove his death to the police, Ree tells Sheriff Baskin that an anonymous person threw the hands on her porch during the night. Baskin is skeptical of the story, but doesn't press Ree for the truth. In this instance of dramatic irony, the reader knows Baskin's suspicion is correct and that Ree is lying to Baskin to protect her family from the Thumps' retaliation.
Ree Receives Jessup's Bail Money (Situational Irony)
At the end of the novel, the bondsman visits Ree to deliver a plastic bag full of cash, telling her she "earned it with blood." In an instance of situational irony, the bail money that an anonymous person posted to free Jessup (in order to murder him) is disbursed to Jessup's family following the coroner's confirmation of his death. With this unexpected windfall, the pressure to support her impoverished family is temporarily alleviated.
