How does the author use irony in the novel, The Wangs Vs The World?

Charles's focus on masculinity is apparent from the earliest chapters of the book, when he laments that he has wealth and a large house, but that his family does not live under his roof (as they would have in China). He is the patriarch, but that position is empty without a house full of bodies to accede to his power. From the affairs that he has with white women to the satisfaction he gets from writing large charity checks for his white business partner's wives, Charles seems focused on claiming a masculine identity through business and wealth, an identity that is, perhaps, more American in nature than the Chinese identity he clings to.

The irony of Charles's focus on this specific brand of masculinity derived through financial success and power is that at his heart, Charles's strength comes from his emotional attachment to his family. He loves his children fiercely, and nurtures them even more than his first wife, May Lee, ever did. Even in the final pages of the book, when he lies dying in a hospital ward somewhere in Bejing, Charles's love for his family is perhaps his strongest and most consistent attribute.