How does irony function in the novel Kaffir Boy?

The most ironic element in this story is that many of the blacks in South Africa bleached their skin and attempted to look like the whites. However many blacks looked upon this practice with disdain and used things like the "pencil test" to determine if someone was truly black or not. Another ironic element of the plot is the idea of complete freedom in America. Mark thinks that America is completely different than his homeland because he can go to an integrated college and he can look at all the newspapers and magazines. In reality, the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups still haunt the south. :)