Read the passage from "lather and nothing else." and so, which will it be? murderer or hero? my fate hangs on the edge of this razor blade. i can turn my wrist slightly, put a bit more pressure on the blade, let it sink in. the skin will yield like silk, like rubber, like the strop. there is nothing more tender than a man’s skin, and the blood is always there, ready to burst forth. a razor like this cannot fail. it is the best one i have.
how does the figurative language in the underlined sentence build a tense mood?
a)it shows how strong the captain is and how fearful the barber must be.
b) it persuades readers to see the captain’s political point of view.
c)it creates a visual image and shows how easily the barber could hurt the captain.
d)it describes details of an old-fashioned barbershop and creates sympathy for the barber.

The correct answer is C.

The figurative language used in the sentence "My fate hangs on the edge of this razor blade," helps the reader picture the severity of the situation through a very specific visual image. It intensifies how much the captain's life is at the barber's mercy.

C)It creates a visual image and shows how easily the barber could hurt the captain.  

Explanation:

"Lather and Nothing Else" is a short story about a man who participates in a political party that will shave in a barber shop where the barber disagrees deeply with the ideas of the man's polite party. During the story the man begins to speak as he and his party companions treat the revolutionaries in a violent way, but the barber is one of these revolutionaries and when he hears the speech of the man, he enters into a moral dilemma where he thinks about whether to kill the man or not.

In the excerpt above, the phrase "My destiny is on the edge of this razor blade" creates a figure of speech that leads the reader to see how easy it would be for the barber to kill the man in front of him.