Read the following passage from a fictional novel:
"In the early years at Highclere, the writing desk in the library, with its warped cedar drawer that refused to slide flush against the frame, had been a source of mild amusement—a quirky testament to the builder’s haste. Julian would laughingly jam it shut with the heel of his palm, only for it to spring open an inch at the next change of weather. But by the winter of the third year, as the silence between Julian and Clara hardened, the stubborn protrusion of the drawer became an active provocation. It no longer suggested mere rustic charm; rather, it seemed to yawn, exposing a dark, narrow mouth that guarded their unspoken resentments. When Clara finally locked the library doors, she left the desk behind, but the image of that small, uncloseable gap remained with Julian, a physical measurement of the distance that had opened between them."
Which of the following best describes how the symbolic meaning of the "warped cedar drawer" develops over the course of the passage?
- Aa static symbol of marital discord that remains uniform in meaning from the beginning of the passage to the end
- Ba literal indicator of shifting seasonal humidity to a physical storage space for the family's financial documents
- Can object Julian physically strikes with his hand to Clara's subsequent closing of the library door
- a lighthearted household eccentricity to a representation of the characters' insurmountable emotional divisionAnswer
- Ea symbol of poor building construction that reflects the author's personal critique of nineteenth-century craftsmanship