They pretend to believe the rest of their family are still alive because it gives them a reason to live. Throughout their imprisonment, Eliezer says his reason for surviving the atrocities is his father. When his father dies, he almost completely gives up, but is liberated. This hope is shown by other Jews in the camp. Many are searching for word of loved ones who might have escaped and survived in hopes that that they have survived.
A discourse is a speech, a discussion or a way to communicate through conversation a message to a specific audience. Another word that has a similar meaning and that is present in the excerpt is the word <em>sermon.</em> A sermon is also a speech, and it a communicates a religious message. Therefore, the correct answer is that the word from the excerpt that helps define discourse is the word <em>sermon</em>.
The answer is :
D) It emphazises death and hell
We can observe that although the author could have simply finished the story in a conventional way he opted for adding an epigraph in order to highlight the concept of deaths and hell (and society's -mis-conceptions of both)
Hope this helps!