Answer:
B) Its a simile; it creates an image of the two men as battered and downcast is the correct answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
Simile is defined as a rhetorical device that compares two different things, emphasizing the similar things; it is different from a metaphor because a simile requires the words "as" or "like."
Gumption is a short story about the Great Depression and Oyster and his boy are characters there. To reinforce the idea that they looked battered, Jack (another character) confirms that they don't have a reliable job, and later on he mentions that both characters are looking for something to eat.