Obtaining the american dream means that someone: a. is born in the us b. achieves his or her full stature c. cares about people who are less fortunate d. all of the above

T do not think it is one of the options, maybe it can be related to option A but not completely because many people move to US in order to achieve the "American Dream". This has to do with fulfill your ambitions and be successful. The American Dream can be defined as "the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America (rich) if they just work hard enough".

The whale was a missile blasting from beneath the surface.  2.) a majestic whale leapt skyward before diving back into the sea.    these are both figurative language. this is so because the whale in sentence "1" was not actually a missile, nor was it actually blasting. now, for sentence "2", a whale can not actually "leap".