The Irony of the barren soils
Flowers and other plants are known to flourish in fertile soils all over the world. No one believes that unfertile soils can produce thriving flowers. Ironically, in the short story 'The Black Madonna', Lessing states that the most barren soils in Zambesia send up flourishing flowers. She says, "For sometimes it is the most barren soil that sends up gardens of those flowers which we all agree are the crown and justification of life, and it is this fact which makes it hard to say, finally, why the soil in Zambesia should produce such reluctant plants.”
The Irony of the 33 Rifle
The farmer in the short story 'The Pig' is fed up with thieves and other animals destroying plants in his fields. He hands over the rifle to Jonas and tells him to shoot at anything he hears. The crowd sitting under the trees is thunderstruck to hear that the boss is ordering Jonas to shoot at anything he hears. The irony in this story is that even human trespassers are considered pigs and they should be shot dead by Jonas. When the farmers hand over the rifle to Jonas he says, "This year, Jonas, you will shoot everything you see – understand?” Jonas is wondering how many people he is going to shoot because some of them are the people he lives with and they pass across the fields.
The Irony of the Adventurous Girls
Under ordinary circumstances, the boys are naturally audacious and self-assured to go the bush to hunt. However, the short story 'The Traitor' provides an opposite narrative in which the narrator and her sister are out in the bush adventuring. However, they get the bravery to enter the bush after they are given a rifle. It is also ironic that these young girls are given a dangerous weapon like the rifle to handle. The reader suspects that there is a possibility of these young girls harming themselves or another person who accidentally comes in their way.
The Irony of Teddy (The Little Yellow Head)
In the short story 'The Old Chief Mshlanga', the white child is taught to take the black people for granted because they are of no value. The blacks are just servants and they must treat the white child with respect and care. The Black servants call the white child as Nkosikaas meaning chieftainess. Even the young black children call the white child chieftainess. Ironically, the white child is taught by his parents to take the black servants for granted despite taking the responsibility of taking care of her. The author says, “The child was taught to take them for granted: the servants in the house would come running a hundred yards to pick up a book if she dropped it.”
The Irony of Teddy (The Little Yellow Head)
Teddy is the only child of Mrs. Farquar. He is treated like a king because he is a white child and he is destined to be the boss (bass) in the future. Teddy is born at the same time when a black child is born within the compound. As young children, Teddy and the black child play together. Ironically, the destinies of Teddy and the black child are already predetermined. The black child will end up being a servant while the white child will end up being the boss. Gideon looks at these children playing and he says, "Ah, missus, these are both children, and one will grow up to be a baas, and one will be a servant." Mrs. Farquar approves Gideon's statement when she says, "Yes Gideon, I was thinking of the same." It is also satirical that Gideon accepts that its God's will for one child to be the boss while the other a servant. This irony shows how blacks are brainwashed by the whites to accept that their fate is to serve the white people.
