Answer: B, “had known”
answer choice A just doesnt make any sense because of the “been”
Theme: that you should always show the passage if u want answers about it
It includes a couple personifications such as "hunger, ever at hand to jog his elbow," "<span>despair, ready to engulf him." The former means that hunger is ready to make him shake if he relaxes, and the latter means that the despair is about to overwhelm him.</span>