Question

Read the following passage carefully:

The clinic had restored Arthur’s lungs, patching the frayed tissue with sterile synthetic mesh, but they could not mend the quiet resentment that pooled in his chest. He sat by the bay window of his parlor, watching the streetlamps flicker to life in the damp autumn dusk. The neighbors spoke of his recovery in hushed, miraculous terms, as if he had been pulled from the very mouth of the tomb. Yet, to Arthur, each breath felt borrowed, a heavy tax levied by a world he had already prepared to leave. He looked down at his hands, pale and thin against the dark wool of his trousers, and thought of Lazarus. He did not envy the biblical figure his return; rather, he wondered if Lazarus, too, had lay awake in the weeks following his resurrection, staring at the ceiling and smelling the faint, persistent scent of spices and damp stone, silently wishing the shroud had kept its hold.

Which of the following does the allusion to Lazarus in the final sentence primarily serve to illustrate?