The Irony of Christie's Stories
Christie tells the young Morag stories about her fake ancestors, although she believes them. He's trying to instill a sense of purpose and honor in the girl. To Morag, for the majority of her life, these stories define her ancestry and determine her path. It's not until later in life that she realizes Christie made them up. The irony here is that Christie, as Morag's foster dad, was the one she was modeling her life after the entire time because the fake ancestors whom she modeled her life after were figures of his own imagination.
The Irony of Morag's Marriage
Morag marries Brooke Skelton because she wants to have a normal family, something denied her in her own childhood because of her parents' untimely deaths. Skelton, however, does not believe in childbirth because of his cynical perspective on the world. He denies her the one thing she desired from the marriage -- children.
The Irony of Jules' Ancestry
Jules ethnic makeup is essentially ironic, considering his consequent position in society. He's Metis, half First Nations and half European. While most people around him are European, they consider themselves Canadians. But Jules is the one with the most claim of being truly Canadian because his people are natives of the land.
The Irony of Christie's Occupation
Christie works as a trash collector in Manawaka. It's not a dignified job, but he's respected by his neighbors because of his quick wit and good humor. It's ironic to consider his job as "scavenger" in conjunction with he and his wife fostering children. Perhaps the literal garbage is not the only thing he collects. This is not to suggest any mal-intent on Christie's part, merely to explore the author's pointed choice of Christie's occupation.
The Irony of Pique's Identity Crisis
Pique is 18 during this novel, which means she's right at the age of crisis. Faced with adulthood, she questions her identity going forward because she implicitly understands that she's missed her father's influence on her life. Just the same as Morag wondered who she was without any parents, her daughter misses the presence of her father and wonders what that means about herself. While Morag found peace in the stories of her Scottish ancestors, her daughter doesn't identify with these stories. She wants to understand her First Nations ancestry. It's ironic that Morag went to all the trouble of traveling to Scotland in order to make sense of her ancestry, but her daughter must begin from square one with the same problem.
