The White House (Verbal Irony)
The black boys call the house behind the school where the boys are taken to be beaten the "White House." This name is emblematic of a deeply disturbing irony; the "white" color referenced in the name conjures images of purity or benevolence, as well as of American history and grandeur by alluding to the seat of the American presidency. All of these descriptions couldn't be further from the truth, since in actuality, the house is the seat of very different qualities. It is where the boys—and disproportionally, the black boys—are taken to be beaten and killed. There is no peace, diplomacy, or order in Nickel's "White House." This irony implies a damning commentary on the real-life American White House, which participated in Jim Crow, legal slavery, and racist oppression for years.
Turner poisoning himself with soap powder (Situational Irony)
In order to get out of work, Turner eats soap powder and makes himself sick. In order to get away from other people inflicting pain on him, he has to inflict pain upon himself willingly, subverting the expectation that someone would never want to bring pain upon themselves or would avoid all possible pain. This absurd irony emphasizes the extent to which the boys will go to try and escape Nickel Academy.
Harper shooting Elwood (Situational Irony)
Another example of disturbing irony within the novel occurs when Harper shoots Elwood; Harper was always the kindest to Elwood of all of Nickel administrators, and yet, in the end, it is he who shoots Elwood in the back as Elwood tries to escape Nickel. This irony highlights the overpowering nature of white racism and cruelty towards the boys. At the end of the day, Harper was willing to shoot Elwood; his kindness was only a facade.
"Even in death the boys were trouble" (Verbal Irony)
The book's opening line employs several levels of irony. The boys cannot be trouble because they are dead; they are literally incapable of action. And yet, somehow, they have bent those constraints and continue to cause "trouble." Additionally, with the context of Nickel's circumstances, the narrator's use of the word "trouble" is also ironic, since at Nickel, the boys rarely actually caused trouble. Rather, the boys were caught in a corrupt system that forced trouble upon them. The novel's opening line employs a darkly comic tone by taking on the skewed perspective of the boys as troublemakers.
