Which sentence from paragraph two of "the black cat" offers the best explanation of the narrator's preference for animals over people? a "from my infancy i was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition." b "my tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions." c "this peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and, in my manhood, i derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure." d "to those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, i need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable."

Read the excerpt below from the poem "exile" by julia alvarez and answer the question that follows. i let myself lie back in deep waters, my arms out like jesus' on his cross, and instead of sinking down like i'd always done, magically, that night, i could stay up, floating out past the driveway, past the gates, in the black ford, papi grim at the wheel, winding through the back roads, stroke by difficult stroke, out on the highway, heading toward the coast. which literary device is used in the comparison between the speaker's experience of fleeing the country and floating in the ocean? i let myself lie back in deep waters, my arms out like jesus' on his cross, and instead of sinking down like i'd always done, magically, that night, i could stay up, extended metaphor symbolism simile theme