The Irony of Kenyan "Independence"
One of the greatest ironies that Ngũgĩ teases out in his text is the irony of "independence" in a post-colonial and neocolonial context. While many people in Kenya fought for their land's freedom and self rule through the Mau Mau Uprising—and despite the fact that many Kenyans and other Black people occupy positions of political and economic power in the country—foreign powers still dominate the country behind the scenes. This irony results from the fact that, as Ngũgĩ tells us and shows us, so many Kenyans are willing to work for foreigners in service of exploiting their own people if it means that they can enrich themselves in the process. This betrayal of independent Kenyans by their own countrymen and women also perhaps chains Kenya even more to foreigners than in the pre-independence era.
The Irony of Warĩĩnga's "Salvation"
In addition to being a tale of post-colonial Kenya, Devil on the Cross is also a tale about the redemption of Warĩĩnga. Warĩĩnga begins the novel as an exploited sugar girl, the very picture of everything that is ruined by the corruption of both Kenyan people and the Kenyan government. Over the course of the novel, she is then radicalized and begins to follow Marxism as a result of the horrors she witnesses during and immediately following the Devil's Feast. In other words, she becomes a Marxist through a baptism by fire. At the novel's end, then, once she has already been "saved" and is able to live the life she always dreamed (with an ideal career, ideal husband, etc.), she reaches the apex of her personal development when her principles drive her to kill the Rich Old Man from Ngorika. This is ironic because, in a vacuum, one would hardly speak of a violent act towards another as the height of salvation, but here, Warĩĩnga's personal growth necessitates it on her path towards higher ideological and personal fulfillment.
The Irony of Religious "Virtue"
Another major irony in the text is that religion is often used as an excuse or defense for corruption and evil. Note, for example, how much the Parable of the Talents is deployed in service of promoting the ideas of foreign servitude and unfettered capitalism. Moreover, in the text, almost every tycoon or comprador is heavily involved with their local church, more often than not using the church as a charitable cover-up for all of the bad deeds they truly are perpetrating on their own people. Finally, note also that the same religious tools that allow tycoons to exploit locals in the text are the same religious tools that were once used by the colonizing powers to subjugate all of their colonized subjects. In sum, religious virtue in the novel is more or less a direct and ironic stand-in for how evil someone actually is.
The Irony of "Modern" Theft
Another irony in the text is the irony inherent in how Ngũgĩ's characters define "modern" theft. "Modern" theft, after all, is not the theft of Ndaaya wa Kahuriaa, who steals chickens and women's purses. Nor is it the theft of Mwĩreri wa Mũkiraaĩ, who wants to steal from his own people and keep foreign masters completely out of the equation. Rather, "modern" theft as defined by Ngũgĩ's characters is exclusively that kind of theft which reinforces colonial-era profiteering and betrayal. Not only is this particularly ironic because this form of theft is centuries old, but it is also ironic because this definition of theft is incredibly far-removed from the conventional definition of theft that would be commonly understood by a third party.
