The Irony of Guadeloupe's Xenophobia
Guadeloupe is an extremely diverse village given its size. It's home to French, Indian, African, and Chinese people to name a few. Despite their diversity, the villagers do not take kindly to strangers. It's odd that such a complicated group of people from so many different cultural backgrounds could be afraid of new cultures. They've coexisted amongst themselves all this time, so it seems unlikely that they should be threatened by a stranger.
The Irony of First Impressions
Sancher, like all outsiders, is initially shunned by the villagers. They don't want him there because they don't like strangers. In the end, however, they judge him just on the fact that he's the new guy. Once they get to know him, they all realize that he fits in perfectly with their crowd. He's the one they've been missing all this time. The hangup of first impressions is that they're almost always false. They could never have guessed what kind of a person Sancher is just by looking at him.
The Irony of Mira's and Vilma's Pregnancies
Sancher arrives in Guadeloupe to face this family curse. He explicity states that he does not want to have children because he wouldn't want to subject them to the curse. Wtihout knowing it, however, he impregnantes both Mira and Vilma. They find out after his death, but both women hope to give birth to daughters and thus spare their children the awful fate of the Sancher curse.
The Irony of Sancher's Initial Rejection
The villagers initially do not like Sancher because he's a stranger, but this isn't even applicable. Sancher's heritage is in Guadeloupe, where his ancestors are from. Although he's never lived there, he is far from being a stranger. The blood of the villagers runs through his veins as well.
The Irony of a Dead Protagonist
Sancher still manages to be the protagonist of the book despite his being dead the entire time. The events take place at his funeral, so everything readers learn about him is post-mortem through the memories of the villagers. He isn't even alive anymore, but he is the driving character of the entire plot.
