Which detail most effectively creates an atmosphere of decay?

“But there was wisdom in his face and great sadness.”
“But it is better to lose one's life than one's spirit.”
“He was sitting looking out over the city—he was dressed in the clothes of the gods.”
“Then I saw the skin on the back of his hand—it was like dry leather.”

type of error:

the error in the sentence is a "dangling modifier". a dangling modifier is a phrase, word or clause that "dangles" because there is not target to modify. in this case, "after mopping the floor" is the dangling modifier since it has no word to modify. the noun "house" cannot mop the floor; therefore there is a mistake in the writing of the sentence.

one thousand and one nights, also known as arabian nights is a collection of stories whose basic structure is that of embedded narrative. this technique refers to a main story which works as the common frame - or framing narrative - for the other stories, and then this series of stories which are connected to the main one. this technique can also be referred to as a story within a story. the stories stem from the original tale, some begin and end on their own, some are connected to the previous or following one, by means of questions that are answered in the subsequent tale, or characters which reappear.

the civil rights act was passed on april 9, 1866 by a republican dominated congress. it was passed over president johnson's veto, in an effort to push back against discrimination of african americans.