Blight means ruin and disaster. Words and phrases that indicate and support this meaning are: "the last bitter hour" (denoting death), "stern agony, and shroud, and pall" (also denoting death, but this time in an even more literal way), "breathless darkness", "make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart" (these phrases definitely imply a disaster that takes our breath away).
A.overloading the lifeboat
Inferences can be tough. It involves you to use all of the information surrounding it in order to make a conclusion based on what is happening. As you read the passage, document or highlight the townspeople reactions to Mr. Hooper. Are they sad for him? Happy? Surprised? For example, if his happiness makes the townspeople feel sad towards him, that says that his happiness in life hasn’t really been present (possibly because of some tragedy). Therefore their feeling of sadness stems from the fact that his happiness has long since been overdue.
