Rich and Poor (Verbal Irony)
Said visits Rauf, hoping his former friend will be able to give him a job at his newspaper. When Rauf declines, and suggests that Said get a menial job because even such jobs are honorable, Said can barely keep the sarcasm out of his voice when he says, "How marvelous it is for the rich to recommend poverty to us" (45). Using verbal irony, he expresses how absurd it is for people who have everything to think that their advice to poor people about the value of hard work in menial jobs is warranted or welcome.
Jobs (Verbal Irony)
Said also uses verbal irony here when he is talking to Nur about going back to thieving and she expresses concern: "Have you ever found it easy to change your job?" (66). Said knows very well that Nur is a prostitute and she has not and most likely will not change her job. By saying this to her he hopes that she will understand why he would want to get back into a profession that was dangerous, unlawful, and resulted in a prior conviction and jail.
Said's Opinions (Dramatic Irony)
Said is obsessed with punishing his enemies, and thinks to himself, "Treachery is abominable, Ilish, and for the living to enjoy life it is imperative that criminal and vicious elements be eradicated" (70). The irony here is that Said is the convicted criminal and a person who is planning even more violent crimes. He is arguably the vicious one; he arguably must be eradicated if one is to live by the principle he sets forth. He cannot see past his desire for revenge to realize he is a hypocrite and just as bad as Ilish and his other enemies.
The Sheikh's Words (Dramatic Irony)
Said remembers how when his father took him as a young boy to the Sheikh, the Sheikh told his father that he was certain Said would turn out to be a truly good man, and that he had a spotless heart. This is sadly ironic, for Said is admittedly not a good man and he does not have a spotless heart. He thinks he is and does, but it is not the case.
