Read this excerpt from the conclusion of the story "there's a man in the habit of hitting me on the head with an umbrella" and answer the question.
on the other hand, i have recently come to the realization that i couldn't live without those blows. now, more and more frequently, a certain foreboding overcomes me. a new anxiety is eating at my soul: the anxiety stemming from the thought that this man, perhaps when i need him most, will depart and i will no longer feel those umbrella taps that me sleep so soundly.
in this ending to the story, which literary device does the author use?
a.) hyperbole to exaggerate the anxiety the narrator once felt when sleeping
b.) irony to offer a contrast with the narrator's initial annoyance at being struck
c.) flashback as a reminder of when the man with the umbrella was unknown
d.) metaphor to compare the umbrella dreadful blows to the narrator's tragic soul