He was more depressed than ever as he drove on by himself. the late afternoon had grown hot and sultry and the country had flattened out.

best describes the irony in the excerpt?

the heat of the day is indicative of mr. shiftlet’s negative feelings of his life and situation.

mr. shiftlet would have preferred to travel with his new wife, lucynell, but she has left him at the diner.

the young boy rejected mr. shiftlet’s offer to give him a ride, and now the man finds himself alone.

mr. shiftlet has the car he wanted and managed to rid himself of his wife, but he still is not happy

Mr. Shiftlet has the car he wanted and managed to rid himself of his wife, but he still is not happy

Explanation:

This is the option that best reflects the irony of the passage. In the story, Mr. Shiftlet gets everything he wanted. He manages to marry the girl and get money for her, while also abandoning her so he does not have to deal with her. Even though he has acted extremely immorally and selfishly, everything has gone according to plan. Therefore, it is ironic to find out that he has never been more depressed.

the present continuous is a verb tense which is mainly used to indicates that an action is in progress at the moment of speaking.  

it is formed using: person + verb to be (am/is/are) +verb + - ing form  

example: i am studying at this moment .

in addition, the present continuous is also used in order to express things that will or will not happen in the near future.

example: i am having dinner with some friends tonight.

the speaker sometimes   uses it   to express that an action is repeated and it causes irritation on the part of the speaker

example: my sister is constantly complaining about everything.