Teachers and Students
One irony of My Children! My Africa! is that teachers are not always wiser than students. At one point in the play, Isabel chides Mr. M for being so traditional that he must ask her how Thami is doing emotionally rather than asking the student himself. She urges him to give up the strict and limiting role of teacher who demands things of students rather than asking, and keeps them at arms length emotionally. Perhaps, she suggests, this is why Mr. M cannot convince Thami to stay in school when the boycott begins.
Self-Defense
One major irony pointed out by Isabel is that the Comrades and Thami call killing Mr. M an action taken in self-defense. Isabel responds to this idea by saying, "What? A mad mob attacks one unarmed defenseless man and you want me to call it..."(p.79) but Thami insists that Mr. M did present a true and physical danger to his people by giving up information about them which could lead to violence, arrests, and even hangings.
Mr. M's Goal
Mr. M tells Isabel early in the play that it is his goal to have one particular student truly learn from him and succeed in life. Mr. M wants this student to be Thami, who he feels has the intelligence and leadership qualities to go far. Mr. M feels that his goal is never reached by his death, since he dies after Thami has dropped out of school to join the boycott. However, Isabel talks to Mr. M in her final monologue, promising him that she will fulfill his goal by working hard in life. There is irony in Mr. M's special student turning out to be Isabel, and in the fact that he will never know if his goal is achieved, since he dies thinking it will not be.
Freedom
An important irony in My Children! My Africa! is shown when Isabel and Thami fight about the Comrades and how the revolutionary group Thami has joined will limit their ability to be friends. Isabel asks how this group could be said to bring freedom when they themselves are limiting what Thami does. Fugard stresses this irony by having Mr. M enter the scene at the moment that Isabel makes this argument; the teacher asks Thami to answer the question even when Isabel gives up on getting a satisfactory answer. Thami finally answers both of them that there is no comparison between the "discipline" (p.63) enforced by the Comrades and the legal restriction of the freedoms of black people under apartheid, but this does not convince Mr. M that there is not irony in the process.
