The irony of coincidence
The nature of coincidence is inherently ironic. The entire purpose of the many coincidences in the story is to say to the reader, "Did you expect so many strange things to happen?" This includes the many times people re-encounter ghosts from lives past.
The irony of powerlessness
Look at "The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow." Billy's mistreatment is ironic, because he is Nena's husband. But strangely, she dies, and he can't stop her from dying, and he can't even make her funeral. This is an indication of the strange powerlessness humans experience to prevent suffering or tragedy. Notice the father from "The Saint" who is powerless to convince the Vatican of her daughter's saint status. Or the failure of the boys to kill the nanny in "Summer of Happiness," while by some random coincidence, she dies anyway. This theme indicates our inability to change our fate.
The irony of the asylum story
In "I Only Came to Use the Phone," a woman's misfortunate situation becomes unimaginably worse when she accidentally hitches a ride to a mental institute where she is mistaken for a patient. Ironically, her husband assumes she cheated. Ironically, she actually does cheat, as a consequence of her husband's assumption. Ironically, the husband comes back and then abandons her in the hospital. Ironically, she ends up literally insane from the whole ordeal.
María dos Prazeres's ironic life
María is obsessed with her own death. In her old age, she convinces herself that the only purpose of her life should be to make sure when she dies, that her dog is properly trained to mourn her and visit her grave, but she's not dying. She's just wasting her life by fearing death.
The irony of travel
Instead of showing how travel can open minds and transform lives, traveling is just assumed in the novel. Many stories happen abroad, and the effect is questionable. They still meet people they know. They still fall victim to life's many tragedies. In the collection, therefore, travel does not represent what it usually might, but rather it can be seen as a metaphor for human life, as if we're merely visiting this life.
