believes that Penelope, with her money and her privileged status, leads a perfect life. However, he finds out that Penelope vomits in the school bathroom and that she is struggling with an eating disorder. Theirony (which refers to a situation that turns out to be the opposite of what someone expects) is that Arnold believes all whites in Reardan live ideal lives, but then he discovers that Penelope is troubled in unexpected ways.

Another sad, ironic situation in the book is that Arnold's older sister, Mary, dreams of writing romance novels. She is always writing down romantic stories in her notebooks. However, when she runs off to get married, the life she encounters is the opposite of what she would want to write about in a romantic novel. In the end, she is killed when her trailer catches on fire.

Keep in mind that irony occurs when the intended meaning of a message is delivered through something (words, a tone, or an event) that signifies the opposite. Verbal irony is when what is said is the opposite of what is meant, often accomplished through sarcasm. Situational irony is when what happens is the opposite of what is expected to happen.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has several examples of verbal irony and situational irony. Almost every time Junior talks to his best friend Rowdy, the discussion is full of verbal irony. When Rowdy tries to convince Junior to go to the powwow with him, Junior is afraid of getting beat up:

"What if somebody picks on me?" I asked.

"Then I'll pick on them."

"What if somebody picks my nose?" I asked.

"Then I'll pick your nose, too," Rowdy said.

"You're my hero," I said. (18)

You can hear the humor and the sarcasm as these two friends banter back and forth. In many ways, Junior's character is so wrought with constant sarcasm that it only makes sense that his best friend would be equally sarcastic. In the above example, it is unexpected for Junior to ask about someone picking his nose in the first place. It is further unexpected when Rowdy says, "I'll pick your nose too" rather than something like, "I'll beat them up," or "I'll pick their nose." In the final line of this interaction you can almost see Junior rolling his eyes. And this isn't an isolated example. Basically you could look at any interaction between Junior and Rowdy and find examples of verbal irony.

The book is even more full of situational irony. Junior's personality is very situationally ironic. He has everything going against him, including his physical disabilities and social ostracism, and yet his attitude is generally positive. It is ironic when he refers to himself as a "retard," and jokes about how much he gets beat up. It isn't ironic because it isn't true, but it is ironic because we don't expect such a pitiful character to be so strong emotionally. It is also ironic that Junior is ostracized socially but comes across to the audience as much older and wiser and confident than his years and experience should allow for.

Later in the novel, it is situationally ironic when Junior's grandmother is killed by a drunk driver. Junior explains throughout the story that basically every Indian on the reservation is a drunk. His grandmother has never touched alcohol. That in itself is ironic. So it is further ironic that alcohol is the very thing that kills her.

I mean, the thing is, plenty of Indians have died because they were drunk. And plenty of drunken Indians have killed other drunken Indians.
But my grandmother had never drunk alcohol in her life. Not one drop. That's the rarest kind of Indian in the world.