The butterflies (Situational Irony)
For Dellarobia, the butterflies represent a "spectacular thing" in her life that is distinctly her own, since she was the one who found them. However, Ovid later explains that they are a sign of climate change and disaster. Although they were first a symbol of beauty, their visual appearance becomes an ironic contrast with the tragedy of climate change that they represent.
Hester charging tourists (Situational Irony)
Hester prides herself on being a pious, righteous woman who plays an active role in the church community. However, when tourists arrive to see the butterflies, Hester quickly starts to charge them a fee—exploiting their curiosity in order to make money. She discards her supposedly strong religious values, which preach benevolence and charity, in order to squeeze money out of the tourists.
"You're outside of the shot" (Verbal Irony)
As Ovid speaks to Tina, her cameraman, Everett, interrupts him to say that he's outside of the shot. The irony lies in the fact that Ovid has just accused Tina and the media of being more concerned with appearances than with facts, and Everett's comment does exactly what Ovid accuses her of: it focuses more on visuals than on the grave facts that Ovid has just presented to Tina.
Dovey and Jimmy (Situational Irony)
When Dovey tells Dellarobia that a young man has been flirting with her at her job, Dellarobia realizes that the young man is Jimmy—the same man that she had fallen in love with and was going to have an affair with. Dellarobia realizes that Jimmy wasn't really interested in her, and that he is just a serial flirt. For her, the flirtation was serious, and she feels stupid for having been willing to risk her marriage to have an affair with him. The irony lies in the fact that Jimmy and Dellarobia did not feel similarly serious about each other. Dellarobia was ready to sacrifice her family life, whereas for Jimmy, Dellarobia was just one of many women that he flirted with.
Cub's denial of climate change (Dramatic Irony)
When Cub tells Dellarobia that he needs more solid evidence in order to take climate change seriously, the audience is aware that the "solid evidence" is right in his backyard—the butterflies that have come to live there are direct proof that climate change is already having drastic effects on our global ecosystems, wreaking havoc on the butterflies' migration patterns. This difference between what Cub knows and what the readers know results in dramatic irony.
