He appeals his emotions and sentiment to distract his audience from the need of justification in favor of angering them so they agree.
I feel that the missing word is most likely "lens" - check if it's among your options.
When something is compared to a lens through which the word is seen, it means that the world is seen through a certain perspective, that it's using a certain interpretation: here that of literary theory.
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B. On the fire escape sit two stray cats
A general rule is that subject has to match verb.
(A) is wrong because one rabbit HOPS, not hop
(C) is wrong because two lands WERE at war, not was
(D) is wrong because they HAVE, not has
(B) is correct because two stray cats sit
*notice that when there's an "s" in the noun, or if the noun is plural, then the verb lacks an "s", and when there isn't an "s" at the end of the noun (it's singular), then the verb DOES have an "s". This is the rule of thumb (there are exceptions though)
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There are different parts to this quote so it would be hard to pick one meaning not know what its from.