Colonial Education
There is a logical irony in colonial rule that imposes an English-based education on non-English, in this case Indian, boys. They are required to learn the Bible and the geography of Europe, and are judged according to English standards of speaking, even though they are mostly Hindu, have never left their small town in south India, and are speaking a non-native language. Their education is misplaced in many ways and creates an enduring situation of irony.
Innocence
The innocence of Swami that permeates the narration creates instances of dramatic irony wherein the narrator will tell the reader a piece of information, such as Swami being lost in a rural road in the middle of a forest, before Swami himself realizes that he is lost. There is also situational irony when Swami and Rajam are unable to properly interpret the letter from a sporting goods shop asking them for payment and therefore saying that they had received the wrong letter. The narrative, by taking on the innocent perceptions of its boy characters, produces a lighthearted and ironic tone for an adult reader.
Conundrum of Escape
Swami often gets into trouble and, when backed into a corner, relies upon a desperate burst of courage to help him escape his troubles, as evidenced by him escaping the Albert Mission School, the Board High School, and his home of Malgudi itself. His attempts at escape, however, do not bring freedom, but further inscribe his dependency and attachment upon the institution or community that he attempted to escape from. This is most overt in his nostalgic pining for the Albert Mission once he leaves the Board High School and at the end of the novel when he is lost in the woods and pining for his home and his mother's cooking.
Cricket Game
Near the end of the novel, the narrator switches focus from Swami lost in the woods to the cricket game where his team, M.C.C., ultimately loses to their opposition, the Young Men's Union. We know that Swami has missed his cricket game, which he had been feverishly fixated on for the past two weeks, but he thinks that it is Saturday, not Sunday, and does not yet know that he has missed the game. Instead, he is in a fairly good mood because his parents and all of their friends have come over to share their well wishes for his recovery, and he feels self-important under their attentions. This is a situation of dramatic irony wherein the reader knows more than the protagonist.
