ShmoopTube

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Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by ritual sacrifice. It's good when... certain

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things do go out of style.

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Based on its context in the passage, which of the following words would be the best replacement

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for "immolation" in line 16?

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We know by now that the narrator means Fortunato nothing but harm.

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So the first thing we can do is get rid of any choices that have a positive context.

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This makes "happiness" easy to eliminate.

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There's no way the narrator wants Fortunato to experience even the least bit of joy.

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"Creation" sounds too positive as well, and it doesn't really make any sense in

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the sentence.

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How would the narrator be hiding "creation" behind his smile? Choice (D) is off the list.

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The narrator's therapist might tell him that getting revenge on Fortunato is a way

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of exerting power over him.

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However, the context of the sentence tells us that the narrator is imagining Forunato's

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immolation, not his own.

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We can't imagine any situation where the narrator would want to give his enemy power,

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so we can nix choice (B).

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The word "immolation" actually means to kill someone as a sacrifice, especially by burning

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them to death.

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However, the narrator is using this term metaphorically. He doesn't necessarily want to set fire to

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Fortunato; he wants revenge.

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Answer (A) is the correct choice.

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