Gat's Roses Aren't for Cadence (Situational Irony)
At the beginning of Cadence's fifteenth summer at Beechwood Island, she arrives full of excitement to be reunited with Gat. She finds him in the kitchen, where he sits at the table with several dried beach roses. Cadence's heart swells as she thinks of how he has collected them for her. However, in an instance of situational irony, Cadence watches Gat put the flowers in an envelope he addresses to someone else. This is how Cadence learns of his girlfriend in New York, Raquel, and it dashes her hopes of getting to be with Gat.
Cadence Says the House is Too Big (Situational Irony)
When Bess tries to convince her father to take the Windemere house away from Penny, Penny enlists her daughter Cadence's support in petitioning her grandfather. While Penny wants Cadence to make him believe that the future of the family legacy lies with Cadence and her children and children's children, Cadence declines to help her mother. In an instance of situational irony, Cadence agrees with Bess that the five-bedroom Windemere is "too big for us." Rather than jockey for power like her mother and aunts, Cadence and the Liars defy authority in an effort to heal the larger, extended family from its internecine squabbles.
Gat and Cadence Eavesdrop from the Pantry (Dramatic Irony)
One night during the tumultuous fifteenth summer on Beechwood, Gat and Cadence raid the Clairmont pantry in search of chocolate. They overhear a shouting match between the Sinclair sisters, who are drunk. In an instance of dramatic irony, Penny, Bess, and Carrie are unaware that Gat and Cadence are listening from the pantry as they disparage each other with a blunt cruelty reserved only for each other. In this uncomfortable scene, Gat overhears Bess tell Carrie he isn't one of them, and that his presence is a clear provocation to Harris.
Cadence Killed the Liars (Situational Irony)
At the end of the novel, Cadence retreives the full memory of summer fifteen that her selective amnesia has been repressing. Not only did she and the Liars burn down Clairmont on purpose, but she also set light to the main floor before the others had a chance to escape. Although the Liars set the fire to punish the family for fighting, the fire resulted in Cadence living with the guilt of knowing she brought about Gat's, Mirren's, and Johnny's deaths. In this instance of situational irony, their united effort to "purify" the broken family only precipitated more unacknowledged trauma and grief.
