Penelope Discovering her African Ancestry (Situational Irony)
Throughout the novel, Penelope holds several racially insensitive opinions, especially towards black people. She identifies as a white woman, and assumes herself to be of pure British stock. Ironically, however, at the end of the novel, she discovers that she is actually 1/8th African. When she meets her mother, Hattie, for the first time, she notes that her mother is definitely darker-skinned. However, when the two women embrace, Penelope chides herself and asks why her mother's skin color had even, for a split second, mattered to her.
Bummi Approving of Carole's Marriage to Freddy (Situational Irony)
In Carole's young adulthood, Bummi is clear about what she expects from Carole's future husband: he must be Nigerian. So, when Carole announces that she is engaged to a white British man, Bummi should dislike her fiancé, and she does, at first. However, through her interactions with the charming, easygoing, and polite Freddy, Bummi warms up to her daughter's fiancé, and ironically ends up liking the man she set out to dislike.
Yazz's Birth (Situational Irony)
It comes as a surprise to the reader when Amma, who has been described as lesbian and happily partnered with two women, is introduced as having a daughter. This irony is resolved when the narrator explains that Amma uses the sperm donation of her friend, Roland, to conceive her daughter, Yazz.
Roland Accidentally Being Heralded as an Activist (Situational Irony)
Roland refuses to let his racial identity define him sociopolitically, and in fact, disparages Amma for ostensibly doing so, but in a televised debate, winds up saying something that goes viral. He is soon heralded online as "a spokesman for cultural diversity" when ironically, his personal politics are that he shouldn't have to "carry the burden of representation [of all black people] when it will only hold him back."
