Which word is an antonym of the underlined word in the paragraph?

during the storm, it rained so hard that the street in front of our house flooded. unfortunately, our car was parked out front, too. we’re in awful straits because water rose up to the car’s doors, so now we can’t get out of the house or drive anywhere.

a.
crisis

b.
majority

c.
advantage

d.
challenge

straits

Which line in this excerpt from the great gatsby by f. scott fitzgerald contains a simile? about half way between west egg and new york the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. this is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight.

Which best explains this excerpt’s purpose in the novel’s plot structure? the excerpt creates conflict between characters as part of the rising action. the excerpt provides background information on a character as part of the exposition. the excerpt returns a character to equilibrium as part of the falling action. the excerpt is the point of greatest tension and acts as the climax.

Is the book the outsiders a realistic story? plz explain. asap!