<u>Option D. The author creates suspense within the story with the use of parallel story lines that creates an air of mystery and suspense.</u>
Explanation:
In the passage, the author creates parallel story-lines within the plot in order to create suspense. Suspense is a state of uncertainty that leads to the anticipation of the outcome within a story or plot. Authors are drawn to include suspense within their stories, as when well implemented, suspense will make the reader to dive further into the story. In this passage, the author creates suspense by introducing parallel story-lines, that somehow are foreshadowing that connect in some way, therefore they work as an instant hook to the reader, who wants to find out how these different stories work within the plot. The reader of the passage is intrigue about how this resentment that the character has towards not being rich and living a luxurious life-style will develop in the story, what it will make her do.
"Grasped" shows the neighbor's primitive qualities; he is like an "old-stone savage armed" because he cannot conceive (or grasp, here used ironically) of thinking beyond what his father taught him: that fences make good neighbors. So, grasp really is both ironic (he can grasp the rock, but not the idea that maybe a fence isn't necessary here) and showing the primitive grasping of the rock as if it were a weapon.
