I think the correct answer would be D. It makes the most sense to me!
You didn't italize or mark the phrase, but I see one good candidate:
"The circus animal trainer" is in a way another name given to Mervin, a kind of "renaming" him: this is called an appositive phrase, so if this was the phrase appositive phrase is the answer! (also, I don't see the other phrases here).
Answer:
This quote means that you have to be yourself in everything. You have to show people who you really are. You can't pretend to be someone else.
Explanation:
The tone is dispassionate. Specific words would be cold, dead. The tone impacts my overall understanding by me getting to experience what it felt like somewhat to be a soldier suffering through all this horror.
