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Are all three types of irony used in "By the Waters of Babylon"? Please give examples if they are.

There is definitely dramatic irony in "By the Waters of Babylon." Dramatic irony is a device that authors use to create situations where audiences know more about a situation than the characters do. 


In "By the Waters of Babylon," this kind of irony begins appearing once John arrives in the Place of the Gods.  We read about "god-roads," "SUBTREAS," and "ASHING." Those details allow readers to begin realizing that John is wandering around a fallen, post-apocalyptic city. Details continue to emerge about cold and hot water piping and the Grand Central Terminal. John is incredibly naive about what he is seeing, but readers eventually realize John is in is New York City. We are able to deduce that some kind of nuclear holocaust destroyed the human population, but John is completely unaware of all of this until the very end of the story. After he has his vision, then John realizes the gods were really regular people.   

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