We're Saved (Dramatic Irony)
Having followed Marshall on a "shortcut" through the woods, Tamaya discovers that Marshall doesn't appear to know where he is going. While he scouts a route from a cliff, Tamaya waits below, lamenting how she has torn her sweater. Upon seeing Chad coming toward her, Tamaya is elated that someone else is there to help guide them out. Not able to conceal her excitement, she calls out, "We're saved!" to Marshall. In this instance of dramatic irony, she is oblivious to what the reader knows: Marshall cut through the forest to avoid getting beaten up by Chad, who has hunted Marshall down.
Marshall Lies to Mrs. Thaxton (Dramatic Irony)
The day after Chad attacks him in the forest, Marshall is relieved to see that Chad isn't at school. However, Mrs. Thaxton comes to the seventh graders to ask if anyone has seen Chad since school yesterday, because he has gone missing. Instead of admitting that Chad tried to fight him in the forest, Marshall claims not to have seen him. In this instance of dramatic irony, Sachar injects tension into the narrative by depicting a scenario in which the reader knows what really happened while the headmistress stays ignorant.
Couldn't Be Better (Verbal Irony)
When Tamaya, Marshall, and Chad are struggling to get out of the mud-covered forest, Marshall gives Chad a hand to pull him to his feet. At this point, Chad has spent the night without food or water, blinded by fuzzy mud. Upon hearing Chad groan, Tamaya asks if he is okay. In a rasping voice, he replies, "Couldn't be better." In this instance of verbal irony, Chad says the opposite of how he actually feels in a humorous reversal. In reality, Chad is in a terrible state and could be much better.
Breaking a Rule Saved Humanity (Situational Irony)
At the end of the novel, Tamaya testifies at U.S. Senate Hearing on the Heath Cliff Disaster. Although she had been deeply conflicted about breaking the rules by following Marshall into the woods, Tamaya learns that if she hadn't, the mutated Biolene wouldn't have been discovered until a week or two later. By then, the destructive substance would have spread far enough that it would never have been contained in a region with cold enough temperatures to kill off the microorganisms. In this instance of situational irony, Tamaya's decision to break the rules by sticking with Marshall turns out to be an action that inadvertently saves humanity from a pandemic.
