Which statement best describes the tone of this passage?

the little farmers watched debt creep up on them like the tide. they sprayed the trees and sold no crop, they pruned and grafted and could not pick the crop.

a. the author uses the word "creep" to emphasize that debt is sinister.
b. the author feels frustrated for the farmers.
c. the author uses descriptive words to show what the farmers have done.
d. the author repeats words and employs parallelism.