"Death of an Old Old Man"
The irony in this story is very simple and located in its title. The tale promises to be one detailing the demise of an old man. In reality, it is the story of a battle to death that takes place between two young pilots from opposing sides, only one of whom will get the chance to die an old, old man.
“An African Story”
The irony of this story is more complex in that it originates not within the narrative itself, but rather its placement within the collection. The agency that unifies the stories included here is that they all deal in one way or another with the psychology of the RAF bomber pilot during World War II. That thematic aspect alone makes it ironic that the pilot character in this story is utterly tangential to the actual story that is being told. The deeper irony, however, is that in the end this story becomes arguably the most important link to each of the other stories because the actual plotted narrative being told of a disagreement between two men leading to an act of revenge is framed as being a story written by one pilot and discovered after that man’s death by another pilot. So even though it is the story in which the unifying agent plays the least part, it turns out ironically to be the entire collection in miniature: stories written by an ex-RAF pilot about other pilots discussing war stories often too fantastical to believe just so most war stories.
“Madame Rosette”
This story features irony at the most basic narrative level. It is a revenge tale in which a corrupt woman running a brothel who pressures innocent girls into becoming prostitutes she virtually enslaves has the tables turned on her by becoming imprisoned in the very office from which she conducts her abominable schemes.
“Katina”
This story features the most tragic irony of the collection. A young Greek girl orphaned as the result of German bombing of her village is adopted by a squadron of pilots committed to protecting her for the duration until she can be properly taken care of. Instead, however, she is brutally killed in a way that could only have been possible by being in that place and time with that squadron.
“Beware of the Dog”
The masterpiece of irony in this collection by Dahl is “Beware of the Dog.” It is such a masterpiece of irony, in fact, that many readers fail to recognize it might be there and also because it can only be reasonable said that the irony might be there because there is no actual way to prove whether or not it really is there. Because Dahl proved himself to be a master of the last-minute ironic plot twist, there has developed around this story something close to a near-universal interpretation of it as being an example of precisely that type of story. The reader takes the narration for granted that RAF Peter Williamson has been the victim of an elaborate scheme perpetrated by the Germans to convince him he survived his crash and is being tended to in a hospital back in England. The final paragraph is the stinger here as Williamson, now convinced he has uncovered evidence of the hoax, greets the supposed RAF Wing Commander with what he has been taught to do if captured by the enemy: giving them only his name, rank and serial number. It is, in other words, on the surface a simple twist-ending story about a failed attempt to convince one man he is living an altered reality.
The problem, however, is that there is no confirmation of any of this and all the evidence which has convinced Williamson that he is actually in German-occupied France and not back home in England is completely ambiguous and open to an alternative explanation. What Dahl might be accomplishing here—it is never really clear—is succeeding in doing exactly what the Germans have failed to do with Williamson. He has written a story in which the near-universal interpretation is a successful attempt to convince one person—the reader—of entering into an altered reality.
