Question

Which literary device does the author use in these lines from a short story?

So the next night, after midnight, four men crossed Miss Emily's lawn and slunk about the house like burglars, sniffing along the base of the brickwork and at the cellar openings while one of them performed a regular sowing motion with his hand. . . .
(from "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner)
simile
metaphor
syntax
irony

Answer 1

The answer is irony

Answer 2

In my opinion, the correct answer is A. simile. You can see that in the construction "four men (...) like burglars". A simile is actually a comparison that always follows this formula: A is like B. It usually uses the conjunctions (like/as), but sometimes, in its shorter form, it doesn't even need them. We don't see a metaphor here - every word is used in its literal meaning. We don't see an irony either. As for syntax, it is not even a literary device.