Question

All at once I imagined I saw shoal water ahead! The wave of coward agony that surged through me then came near dislocating every joint in me. All my confidence in that crossing vanished. I seized the bell-rope; dropped it, ashamed; seized it again; dropped it once more; clutched it tremblingly once again, and pulled it so feebly that I could hardly hear the stroke myself.

Which detail from the passage helps the reader understand the strength of the narrator's emotions?



A; All at once I imagined I saw shoal water ahead!

B: The wave of coward agony that surged through me then came near dislocating every joint in me.

C: All my confidence in that crossing vanished.

D: pulled it so feebly that I could hardly hear the stroke myself

Answer 1

I'd say B. Though C and D also show emotion, the use of "came near dislocating every joint in me" and "agony" shows much stronger emotion.

Answer 2

B: The wave of coward agony that surged through me then came near dislocating every joint in me.

Step-by-step explanation:

The narrator of the story is so terrified that his body is paralyzed by the horror he is feeling. The author of the passage dejesa that we, readers, can feel all the land that the narrator is feeling, in addition to feeling how it leaves the character impotent. For this reason, the author included the detail "The wave of cowardly agony that came through me came close to dislocating all the joints in me."