Question

Read the excerpt from Flannery O’Connor’s “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.”

Mr. Shiftlet was so shocked that for about a hundred feet he drove along slowly with the door stiff open. A cloud, the exact color of the boy’s hat and shaped like a turnip, had descended over the sun, and another, worse looking, crouched behind the car. Mr. Shiftlet felt that the rottenness of the world was about to engulf him. He raised his arm and let it fall again to his breast. “Oh Lord!” he prayed. “Break forth and wash the slime from this earth!”

The turnip continued slowly to descend. After a few minutes there was a guffawing peal of thunder from behind and fantastic raindrops, like tin-can tops, crashed over the rear of Mr. Shiftlet’s car.

Which is a metaphor?
The turnip continued slowly to descend.
...raindrops, like tin-can drops, crashed over the rear of Mr. Shiflet’s car.
Mr. Shiftlet felt that the rottenness of the world was about to engulf him.
He raised his arm and let it fall again to his breast.

Answer 1

The metaphor is: "Mr. Shiftlet felt that the rottenness of the world was about to engulf him."

Explanation: this line describes an abstract idea (the world's "rottenness") acting like a physical force that can "engulf" him — a figurative comparison.
(For clarity: the raindrops line is a simile ("like tin-can tops"), the arm action is literal, and the "turnip" cloud is a figurative image but the clear metaphor in the choices is the third line.)