Irony of self-defense
The actual "Brief Interview" stories in the work are essentially an exposition of this irony, that even when the hideous men in question are actually quite self-aware of their dysfunctions and mental health issues, they often seem motivated to defend their actions, often with extreme biases for themselves, and in fact, the argument of the story might be that the most disgusting aspect of the men is that they so adequately defend their evils instead of fixing them. The main irony here is that the explanations offered by the men are often quite convincing and often difficult to refute.
Irony of empathy
In the story "The Depressed Person," the reader meets a woman with trademark symptoms of very serious depression, but her self-awareness actually precludes empathy from others. To paraphrase the author himself on what he had to say about this story in an interview, this is the kind of woman who might call in the middle of the night for moral support, but instead of asking for help, they spend two hours just apologizing for bothering the person.
The irony here lies in the fact that the woman's serious, authentic need for empathy has expressed it in a way that forbids her from benefiting from the empathy of others.
Irony of growth and progress
Throughout the short stories, there is a paradoxical relationship between self-awareness and personal growth. What would seem natural is that learning oneself more accurately would facilitate personal growth, but throughout the stories, we see people who are burdened by the knowledge of themselves without the ability to correct themselves at all. What this irony seems to suggest is that diagnosing oneself ad nauseam might actually make it more difficult to fix the problems that become more clear. It's as if the mind is not the correct aspect of the person to fix the mind itself.
Irony of the passage of time
Even a glance at the titles of the short stories shows that this irony will be called upon. Consider titles like "Forever Overhead," "Death is Not the End," and "A Radically Condensed History of Postindustrial Life." The irony is blatant in the last one especially, one in that Wallace calls it a history, even though it is obvious that his criticisms are present and future oriented. In that story, the inability to be authentic comes about through worry for the future. In "Forever Overhead," the young boy ('you') finds himself unable to fathom the passage of time, wishing desperately to stop the flow of time entirely. From the high-dive, he sees a bee above a can of soda and the remark is made that the reason the bee seems to stay still is because he is moving faster than he can think.
Irony of artistic expression
The stories all deal at least indirectly with the problem of empathy and human connection in the postmodern world. The boy in "Forever Overhead" finds himself standing above the masses and wishes to stay there forever, and when he jumps, he says "Hello." That is the last line of the story, and it's stark contrast to the story seems to indicate that Wallace himself has reached through the story to say hello to the reader, since this is his artwork, and since standing above the crowd is what allows the boy to obtain the attention of everyone at the pool. (This raises some sad questions about what exactly the water represents).
The point here is that art is simultaneously an act of giving and an act of taking. The irony is that the most powerful act of empathy art can muster is to draw attention to the artist, which is not empathetic for the artist.
