Prostitutes
In the introductory essay “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow” the narrator talk about his experiences as a young man living in a segregated society. The narrator mentions prostitution and admits that many black women resorted to sleeping with men for money to sustain themselves and their families. If a black woman was discovered as selling sex for money, she would be punished by being beaten by the police force. Ironically, when the opposite were to take place, that is a white prostitute being discovered servicing a black man, the person who was punished was the black man. As the narrator point out, some of those black men even risked losing their lives for sleeping with a white prostitute.
Killed for trying to save their own lives
Many characters in the novellas are killed after they kill or beat up a white person. This is mentioned in the novellas “Big Boy Leaves Home” and “Long Black Song”, both stories describing the tragic deaths of the main black characters. What is ironic is that the characters kill the other white person or injure him in an attempt to try and protect their own lives. Often, the death of another black person is caused by the injured or killed white person and so the remaining black character has no other choice but to try and protect himself.
Saving the family of the man he killed
In “Down by the Riverside”, the main character, a man named Mann, kills a white man who sees Mann rowing in his stolen boat. As time passes by and the area in which Mann and the white killed person lived becomes flooded, Mann is tasked with saving a family on the outskirts of the town. Ironically, Mann soon realizes the family he is supposed to save is the family of the man he killed a little while before.
Asking the enemy for help
On “Fire and Cloud”, the main character, a preacher named Taylor, is desperately trying to find a way to get enough food to feed his congregation. First, Taylor goes looking for help at the government but he is quickly turn away and refused. Taylor then asks the communists for help, even offering his support in exchange. The reason why this is ironic is because the communists were seen by the government as the enemy. Thus, through this, Taylor tried to fraternize with the people seen as the enemy by his country.
Singing hymns
The character Sue in “Bright and Morning Star” is described in beginning as being a communist and as replacing her former Christian faith with a belief in Communist. An ironic element is presented in the beginning of the novella where Sue is described as singing hymns when she was feeling stressed and desperate, thus proving Sue never gave up her Christian beliefs.
