Irony of the American dream
One of the main themes explored in this collection of stories is the theme of American dream. The characters want to come, like in the story "Buried Lives", or came to the western world, particularly America, in search of better lives. While this is true, and they have much more opportunities, life as an immigrant in the western world isn't all that dreamy. They are struggling with being different which provokes ignorance and with it racism, living in a completely different world from the one they came from and carrying the burden of their home traditions.
Irony in "Danny's Girls"
Danny is an immigrant who uses the dreams of other immigrants, especially Indian girls, of coming to America to his advantage. He prospers from setting up desperate immigrant girls and American guys who haven't had luck in love to make the girls get a green card to America. Danny is "preying on others' dreams", the same dream he once had.
Irony of "Loose Ends"
The assassin named Jeb is the main character of "Loose Ends". He ironically talks about Miami where "you can park your car in the shopping mall and watch the dope change hands, the Goldilockses and Peter Pans go off with new daddies". The Goldilockses and Peter Pans he talks about are orphan kids and his girlfriend is interested in adopting one of the "Goldilockses". He recalls a scene when a swami jumped from the roof of a building in a meditative position and cops caught him in a safety net and arrested him. He concludes in an ironic way that this all was watched by a number of felons and killers who went back to their cars after this spectacle in Miami. Jeb is someone who looks at the American dream and America with contempt and turns his hatred towards those who came to America and became successful like the Asian owners of a hotel he arrived to. To him they are aliens who were sneaking in around back while the likes of them were "nailing up that big front door".
