Cathy Finds the Crisis Exciting (Situational Irony)
Early in the play, the friends take turns panicking and reasoning as they try to figure out a way to cover up Adam's death and avoid getting in trouble. While everyone in the group expresses fear and frustration, Cathy arrives to the discussion with a grin on her face. She comments that the situation is "exciting," and calls it, "Better than ordinary life." In this instance of situational irony, Cathy experiences a perverse exhilaration in a context where everyone else worries about consequences.
Grief Is Making People Happy (Situational Irony)
After the group follows Phil's plan to cover up Adam's death, Leah and Phil sit in a field and discuss how things have changed now that the community is in mourning. Leah remarks, "Everyone's happier. It's pouring into the school, grief, grief is making them happy." In this instance of situational irony, Leah emphasizes how grief—a phenomenon typically associated with sadness—is instead leading people to appear happier than usual.
Cathy Framed a Postman (Situational Irony)
As the search for Adam's supposed kidnapper continues, the group of friends learns that the police have arrested a suspect fitting Brian's—originally Phil's—invented description of a "fat postman" flasher in the woods. The group wonders how the police managed to find the man's DNA evidence on Adam's jumper (sweater). Cathy then reveals that she found a man fitting the description outside the postal sorting center and then dropped the jumper for the man to pick up. In an instance of situational irony, the group learns that Cathy took her assignment too far and, instead of simply covering up the murder, purposefully connected an innocent man to Adam's death.
Adam is Alive (Situational Irony)
Late in the play, after weeks of pretending that Adam was abducted by a postman, the group discovers that Adam never died. In the woods, Brian and Cathy find that Adam has been living in a hedge and surviving on insects and animals. Because of his brain injury, Adam has forgotten his identity, preferring to hide in his hedge. In this instance of situational irony, the fact that Adam is alive is taken to be a negative thing because it threatens to expose the group's coverup.
