Mrs. Maloney In 'What's The Worst That Could Happen?'

“Sometimes life doesn’t go as you hoped.” This quote by Iyana Long, shows that life isn’t always how you want it to go. In LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER by Roald Dahl, the main character Mrs. Maloney killed her husband. In What’s the Worst That Could Happen?” by Bruce Coville, during a play the main character falls off the stage and breaks his leg. Both characters in each story have a problem they didn’t think would occur.

In the short story, LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER, there is loads of situational irony. When the detectives come to Mrs. Maloney’s house, they say the murder weapon is right under their noses, and that it is somewhere near them. Little do they know, they are eating the murder weapon which is a piece of lamb.“She wants us to finish it. She said we ought to eat it up.” said one of the detectives ( Dahl 4). They don’t know that the lamb was the weapon used to kill Mr. Maloney, and that is what Mrs. Maloney wants. She wants the officers and detectives to eat the murder weapon so she doesn’t get charged. Another example of situational irony is when Mrs. Maloney is at the grocery store. “Perfect,’’she said. “He loves it.’’Mrs. Maloney said to the clerk at the store (Dahl 3). The clerk is asking Mrs. Maloney if she wants to get cake for Mr. Maloney because he likes cake. The clerk doesn’t know that Mr. Maloney is dead. Mrs. Maloney is trying to make a alibi for herself. It is funny because the reader knows something that the characters don't.

The main character, Murphy likes a girl named Tiffany. But, she doesn’t know that. Tiffany has boyfriend and Murphy doesn’t know about him. Murphy tries to be around Tiffany as much as he can and that's why he joins a play, even though he has stage fright. “Yes! I say, ignoring the facts (a) I have not yet read the script and (b) I have paralyzing stage fright.” (Coville