A, because short stories are usually meant for the purpose of morals, and C is not a characteristic of a short story due to the fact that those are actually reserved for well, longer stories, D does not fit as diagrams are almost literally never used in short stories besides the cover, and rhymed couplets are poem-related.
[v]ast numbers of our people are compelled to seek their livelihood by begging, robbing, stealing, cheating, flattering, suborning, forswearing, forging . . which satirical element is most dominant in the passage above?