That Name
Amanda makes it quite clear she never felt comfortable within the body of the gender assigned at birth. She does not like being a boy and she most assuredly does not want to experience the long end of that maturation process. Which is why there must certainly be some ironic element to Andrew’s decision to adopt a name as her female identity that begins with the words “A man.”
Football
Andrew’s dad is constantly pushing athletics and sports and playing ball upon his son as basically a means for him to “man up.” The Amanda inside resists partially out of an apparent lack of aptitude and partially out of a simple lack of interest. Ironically, Amanda will soon enough come to an appreciation—of sorts—of the finer nuances of high school football for the oldest reason on record: she starts dating a jock. Which, of course, is ironic itself in light of her father’s attitude.
Irony Upon Irony
A mini-skyscraper of irony is built within just a few seconds of time and just a few paragraphs of description after the homecoming celebration goes horribly wrong. When a kinda-sorta friend named Parker happens along Amanda walking home alone he offers her a ride with the oldest line in the book of misogyny: “Don’t worry…I’ll keep you safe.” Even as Amanda agrees with a quick “Okay” she is remembering how her mother warned her about just how frightening men could be to a woman alone and how, furthermore, that very situation engendered the very feeling of helplessness which so very often led to trouble. Needless to say, the foundation of this layering of irony is that Parker’s promise to keep Amanda safe is exactly the opposite of his intention.
Bee
Bee is Amanda’s closest friend at her new school, aside from boyfriend, Grant. Bee has a certain corrosive sort of ironic sense of standards, however, that will eventually prove their friendship to be somewhat ironic. More to the point, however, is Bee’s ironic summing up of Amanda vis a vis what society expects from girls:
“Smart, pretty, but not pushy or intimidating … she’s everything this…place wants a girl to be.”
Some Call it Hypocrisy
Irony or hypocrisy? Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference. Perhaps there is no difference. Judge ye for yourself: is it ironic for people who worship a God they declare awesome because He loves everyone to want to hurt, humiliate, or ostracize transgender people or is it merely hypocritical? Of course, one cannot help but suspect that "hope" in this instance is really just a polite synonym for "faith."
“it was hard to place too much hope in a God so many people said hated me.”
