"she was ransacking the stores for jim's present." "she found it at last. it surely had been made for jim and no one else. there was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. it was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation--as all good things should do. it was even worthy of the watch. as soon as she saw it she knew that it must be jim's." using context clues, which of the following best describes the term "meretricious" from the selection? a. exceptional b. superficial c. humble d. adequate

B. Superficial

Explanation:

The defenition of meretricious is:

"apparently attractive but in reality having no value or integrity."

The defenition of superficial is:

"apparent rather than real."

first of all the mood needs to be defined: it is obviously a mood of deceitful relief and serenity. why? because the cape horn is one of the most violent maritime regions of earth and although it has been left behind, it is a personification of ahab’s delirium and the fact that the end of the passage speaks about it about being “hidden” but “raving” immediately conveys the feeling the calm is not permanent but fleeting.

furthermore, the oxymoron “mild stun'sails” is the first instance of such feeling as the adjective “mild” is associated with “stunned” underscoring the fleeting nature of this “tranquil” moment. and the contrasts keep piling up, with the opposition between “dark den” and “blessed light and air” to end with the final conclusion that leaves the reader with the uneasy knowledge that this is just a reprieve.