The irony of adoption into hell
For Charity, life away from the Mountain is hell. What she doesn't know is that her belief that moving will solve her problems is misguided at best; all she knows is that she wants to go to Springfield for a change of scenery. Sadly, she never can quite get away from Lawyer Royall, it seems, so his adoption of her, although he does it twice, out of love and acceptance for her—she ironically feels trapped by him, because she doesn't understand that he was never going to be able to rescue her from her private despair.
The ironic pick
Lucius Harney is an architect, so building stable structures is in his vocation, but does he build stable homes? No, he takes two girls instead of one, promising each of them that he will dump the other and be with only them, but of course that doesn't actually work at all. Instead of saving her from small town life, Lucius condemns her to it. His effect is ironically opposite.
Ironic pregancy
This novel features an anti-marriage. Instead of staying with his partner and raising his child with her, Lucius leaves his baby momma behind, and her pregnancy begins to become increasingly ironic. Although technically, pregnancy represents new life and new opportunity, for Charity, pregnancy is increasingly painful and arduous. As her body begins the hard work of growing a human, Charity feels chronically drained of hope.
The irony of abandonment
When her parents weren't there for her, Charity began to harbor feelings of abandonment. Because no one understands the quality of that pain, she feels very lonely, and when she engages in relationships, she often finds herself in dramatic scenes of abandonment. She struggles against those feelings, but secretly, the reason for their intensity is that she is neglecting them. In some ways, she has abandoned her own self.
The irony of love
She wants love from the smartest, most progressive, educated types of people. Charity is pretentious (even though she is from a worse place than her home). Ironically, love is something that she doesn't get to be picky about. By using love as a tool to solve her emotional problems, she misses out on opportunities to be in communion with those who already love her. This ironic battle for love represents her damaged perception of people.
