Pay special attention to the word choices the author Jack London makes in this excerpt of his story “Just Meat.”
“He strolled to the corner and glanced up and down the intersecting street, but saw nothing save the oases of light shed by the street lamps at the successive crossings. Then he strolled back the way he had come. He was a shadow of a man sliding noiselessly and without undue movement through the semi-darkness. Also he was very alert, like a wild animal in the jungle, keenly perceptive and receptive. The movement of another in the darkness about him would need to have been more shadowy than he to have escaped him.”
Why did the author use the words shadow of a man; alert, like a wild animal; and keenly perceptive and receptive?
A.
to describe a cautious character who doesn’t want to be seen
B.
to describe a dangerous character who’s done something wrong
C.
to describe a frightened character who’s looking for a place to hide
D.
to describe an untrustworthy character who’s looking for a criminal opportunity