The context of a piece of writing is the

environment in which it was written.
denotative meaning of its language.
author’s ideas about a specific topic.
central idea and how it is developed.

the author motivation is to show the power of animal-human relationships.

this answer to this question is c. allegory

why?

stories with allegories have a hidden symbolic meaning with a theme. the hidden meaning can be political, or other real life problems.

the correct answer is d. sinking. - apex.