For the past six months, thomas had seen no sunrise, only ice.  the horizon diminished between the gray sky and the packed floes.  the cold and accompanying numbness made thomas forget what it was like to have fingers and toes.  how does one live a half a year without feeling one’s fingertips?   he asked himself one morning.  his mates were all skin and bones, pitiful scarecrows and starving wretches.  they trudged through their work in a mindless haze.  exhaustion set in their bones like steel rebar in concrete.
          “no rest for the wicked,” one would say.  “i’ll sleep when i’m dead,” the others responded.  shackleton would not let them rest.  he drove them onward, giving them daily chores, tasks.  they worked. they worked through meals, which was fine because there was almost nothing to eat.  where they came up with the energy to make it through day after day no one knew.  the weakest of them had succumbed to frostbite and illness. 
          above everything was the howling wind, mocking them.  nevertheless, thomas kept to his tasks:   walking dogs through blizzards, hunting walrus or seal, digging shelters out of thin ice.  the chores seemed to melt together into one long tirade of effort.  there was nothing else to do.  the alternative was unthinkable.
          his determination clung to the darkness like a broken tree to the face of a cliff, teetering on the barest of footholds.  but, it was there, and every day brought thomas closer to rescue. every burning muscle, every missed meal, was a moment in the past, and a moment towards the future, and the sunrise, like the warmth of a kitchen fire.
4
which of the statements below  best  describes the overall theme of the passage?
  a. 
cold weather can make life difficult for starving people.
  b. 
a person's determination can go beyond all measure.
  c. 
friendship between members of a group is important.