Unsheltered
by Barbara Kingsolver

Unsheltered: Situational Irony 1 key example

Chapter 5: Striking Out
Explanation and Analysis—Whitman Bridge:

In Chapter 5, Willa sets out on the long drive from Vineland to Philadelphia to bring Nick to a hospital in the city. After conversing with the rude and grouchy Nick for a while, Willa is tense and frustrated. When she's already in this mood, she has to drive across the Walt Whitman Bridge from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, and a combination of traffic, Nick's comments and radio station of choice, and construction noises frustrate her even further. In this context, she ironically quotes a fragment of Walt Whitman's poetry: 

The jackhammer now seemed to be operating directly on her skull. So this is how it turns out, she thought. Hell is the Walt Whitman Bridge. I hear America singing! Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs!