Oh the Irony

"'Tommy's right. You're just the person to have when you're in a corner.'"  Never Let Me Go (p. 105)

Ruth is pretty oblivious of a lot of things in the first half of the book.  However, she has also been an ever-changing character.  She denies reality by creating her own fantasy world (which who can blame her when her fate is so horrible), she protects one of the teachers from "danger," she leads her own gang, and she even has her own boyfriend.  The breakup with Tommy was probably one of the big events in her life.  However, she is oblivious to the fact that Tommy has been running into so many obstacles in his life.

When Ruth says the statement above, she considers Kathy to be one of her closest allies.  She tells Kathy that Tommy considers Kathy to be someone who can help a person out of difficult situations.  However, Ruth does not realize that Kathy has been helping Tommy all along.  In fact, I believe Tommy and Kathy have a better relationship then Ruth and Tommy ever had.  The above excerpt is an example of dramatic irony (which takes place when there is a discrepancy between the reader's understanding of the scene and a character's understanding of a scene, usually because the reader has knowledge the character does not).  Ruth thinks that Kathy has been helping her all along; in reality, Kathy has been on the side of Tommy helping with his problems.

Here is a good example of dramatic irony from the Big Bang Theory.  Enjoy :)