The Fireball and Other Fabrications
In "False Idols and a Fireball," Witting calls attention to one of the central ironies of Isobel's character: Isobel's status as a liar. Thanks in part to the low opinion of Isobel's mother, "It was well established that Isobel was a liar" (19), although the events of the narrative establish that the young Isobel is fairly truthful. Even events that seem out of the ordinary, such as the appearance of the fireball, are not lies that Isobel is telling but records of events that are hard to believe. Later in the novel, Isobel's relationship to the truth becomes ironic in exactly the opposite way: the adult Isobel begins lying to the new authority figure in her life, Mrs Bowers, yet finds that her words are accepted as the truth.
Family Hatred
Approaching a realistic novel, many readers would naturally expect some form of affection between parents and their children; even in a mostly strained relationship, moments of kindness or understanding might be possible. The relationship between Isobel and her mother completely overturns this assumption, since May's contact with Isobel is thoroughly and consistently antagonistic. Ironically, when May does raise the question of family love—by repeatedly asking Isobel, "Do you love me?"—she does so in a manner that does little more than remind the reader how little love there is in her parenting style and in Isobel's response. Isobel remembers the "Do you love me?" incidents as "hideous times" (25) that deepen her hatred for her mother, not as bonding experiences. May, in her anger and anxiety, might feel exactly the same way.
Diana's Reaction
In observing Diana, Isobel speculates that this dark, brooding young woman is in a state of emotional distress and may even attempt suicide. Yet when Diana is faced with a distressing event—the death of Nick, her onetime lover—she reacts with a calmness and positivity that is supremely ironic: "The feeling was appearing now: relief. Isobel was the prison governor who had brought her news of her reprieve" (140). Diana has spent so long obsessing over Nick that Isobel (not to mention the reader of I for Isobel) would assume a histrionic reaction to the loss of the man she loved. This natural expectation is quickly and completely defeated.
Isobel versus Mrs Adams
One of the novel's major instances of dramatic irony is Isobel's supposition about Mrs Adams. While Mrs Adams deeply appreciated Isobel's published poem, Isobel believes that she has done something wrong simply by commemorating a neighbor's cat: "You put a lady's name in the paper, Isobel. She's going to have you put in jail" (173). There is an ironic disconnect not only between the perspectives of the two characters, but also between the perspectives of Isobel and of almost any rational reader. Criminalizing the publishing of a poem about a neighbor would be ludicrous; anyone who hasn't had Isobel's strange family life would see how irrational Isobel's fear is.
