Smug is the answer. Gloat means to celebrate one's misfortune with smugness. Hope this helps :)
First,
let us define each word with their dictionary definitions:
Confuse
is making a person not certain or unable to understand onto something.
Meander
is a ‘winding path or course’ (e.g. a river or a road)
Harangue
is a speech which is forceful or angry
Distract
is causing someone ‘to stop thinking about or paying attention’ onto something
or someone
With
the words and their meaning, the word that is most likely to have a negative
flavor or connotation is letter C: Harangue.
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I would say, Simile because this compares the feeling of seeing the machine to being stabbed by a dozen awls. Similes use like or as to compare two different objects, so that is what leads me to believe this. It cannot be a symbol, because that does not represent anything. It cannot be personification because it does not take a nonliving object and give it human features. I would say that's it a metaphor, but it uses as, so I firmly believe that it is a simile..
Answer: Literature has the power to change lives
Explanation: