Question

“It’s nothing so sweet,” Mr. Shiftlet continued, “as a boy’s mother. She taught him his first prayers at her knee, she give him love when no other would, she told him what was right and what wasn’t, and she seen that he done the right thing. Son,” he said, “I never rued a day in my life like the one I rued when I left that old mother of mine.”
What is ironic about Mr. Shiftlet’s comments?

He discusses his mother although he doesn’t seem to actually have a mother.
He has picked up a hitchhiker who has run away from his mother.
He speaks about morals after having just abandoned his wife at a roadside diner.
He clearly has no regrets about having left his mother when he was a younger man.

Answer 1

He's talking morals after abandoning his wife in a roadside diner.

He tells the anecdote of his mother because he thinks the boy is wrong for fleeing his mother. It's not ironic since Mr. Shiflet does it on purpose. Ironically, he is blaming himself for abandoning his mother, who was a divine gift. He recently left his wife at a diner. He should know better than to abandon people...