The irony of technology and time
The novel features the use of technology that wasn't real yet. For instance, we meet Raven, the escaped slave. How did he escape his plantation owner? By airplane, even though the airplane wouldn't even be invented for another 40 years. Raven learns about Lincoln's assassination by watching it happen live on television (harkening to the JFK assassination). The ironic use of time shows that the novelist doesn't view his social criticism as a thing of the past. One might say it's an ironic way of making the novel seem "timeless."
The ironic Abraham Lincoln
Instead of Abraham Lincoln, the champion of social justice, the novel shows a Lincoln who is shady, just like all politicians. Just before he freed the slaves, the novelist's Lincoln almost swings the other direction and he even offers Swille a chance to keep his slaves indefinitely. It is only money and political achievement that motivates Lincoln, at least in the novel.
The ironic evil of the North
No one needs to be reminded of what made the South evil—American slavery is one of the most gruesome versions of slavery ever on the planet. But that doesn't mean that the North is morally just. In fact, the novel shows another narrative where instead of being motivated by social justice, the slaves were freed for Lincoln's own personal, immediate political gain. Then Yanke Jack's character demonstrates more features of Northern life that are vicious and power-hungry.
Princess Quaw Quaw's downfall
To Raven, Quaw Quaw represents the tribal past of American life, before the continent was colonized by Europe. His opinion darkens at the end of the novel, though, because he sees that Quaw Quaw is still just a regular person, as susceptible to corruption as the rest. Princess Quaw Quaw does not represent what Native Americans typically represent in American literature—instead she represents the opposite. Quaw Quaw's character shows that no matter what someone's background or ethnicity, they can still be tainted by American economics.
The tightrope
This novel is full of symbolic, outlandish ironies. The best of them is Raven and Princess Quaw crossing into Canada in style—backwards on a tightrope. The absurdity of the image is funny, but the meaning behind the irony is dark. There is no escape from human evil, Raven learns the hard way.
