Irony of Jackie Kay
It is ironical that despite of the love and care of her foster parents, Jackie Kay yearns for her biological family. She had a brother who also loves her but still she wanted to know about her birth parents. She goes on a journey to find them. The title of the novel also alludes towards her journey in search of her identity and her parents. After meeting them, she realizes that she has no place in their lives. She imagines her father in the following manner: “He is a rich dark colour, a melting darkness, warm and endless like the dark of sleep. He has broad features, a wide nose, high spread cheeks. Wide as the span of a small bird’s wing, and a laughing smile.” Her imagination lead her to disappointment when she actually meet her biological father. He proved to be the opposite of her imagination.
Irony of Biological Parents
Another irony in the book is that Kay's parents left her because of their own fears. They gave her away and continued their lives. Kay says about her mother that “It’s a bit like a blind date, waiting to meet your birth mother. I didn’t know exactly what she looked like, though I’d been sent out out-of-date photographs.” When Kay's parents meet her after years, they refuses to meet her at first but when they finally meet her, they refer to her as a sin which is quite ironical. They blame an innocent girl for their own sins in order to get rid of their guilt. After meeting her parents, Kay says, “I am sitting here, evidence of his sinful past, but I am the sinner, the live embodiment of his sin.”
Irony of Adoption
Jackie Kay's views about adoption are also ironical because her foster patents gave away their lives for their adopted children but still they crave for their biological parents. Kay realizes the irony of her foster mother' life and says, "My mum all those years ago sensed a child who had been adopted was also a child who could feel terribly hurt. And no matter how much she loved me, no matter how much my dad loved me, there is still a windy place right at the core of my heart." It is ironical that her foster patents suffered despite of giving their best to their children. Furthermore, Kay says "You think adoption is a story which has an end. But the point about it is that it has no end. It keeps changing its ending."
Irony of Racism
Jackie Kay faces the racist attitudes in her school owing to her skin color. She was bullied in school and the students denied her help because they do not wanted to help a person of color. It is ironical that the racism has perpetrated the core of our societies. In "The power of One," Peekay suffers because of racism in his school. Literature is replete with such examples in which children are tortured because of the prevailing prejudice in our societies especially in the educational institutions.
Irony of Father
When Kay meets her father, she says "The man can talk. We have that in common." There is an irony in her comment because the father whom she used to imagine turned out to be the opposite of her imagination. It is hear wrenching to know that Kay strives to meet her family but they pushed her away like she doesn't exist for them. The image that she had of her father literally shattered after her meeting with him and she remembers the live and care of her foster patents. She says about her father, “It doesn’t matter now that my father turned out to be the Wizard of Oz, a smaller man than the one in my head, and a frightened man at that.”
