Question

read the passage from the novel les misérables.
darkness makes the brain giddy. man needs light. whoever plunges into the opposite of day feels his heart chilled. when the eye sees blackness, the mind sees trouble. in an eclipse, in night, in the sooty darkness, there is an anxiety even to the strongest.
nobody walks alone at night in the forest without trembling. darkness and trees, two formidable depths - a reality of chimeras appears in the indistinct distance. the inconceivable outlines itself a few steps from you with a spectral clearness. you see floating in space or in your brain something strangely vague and unseizable as the dreams of sleeping flowers. there are fierce phantoms in the horizon. you breathe in the odours of the great black void. you are afraid, and tempted to look behind you. the hollowness of night, the haggardness of all things, the silent profiles that fade away as you advance, the obscure dishelvelments, angry clumps, livid pools, the gloomy reflected in the funeral ... against all this you have no defence.
from victor hugo, les misérables. trans. charles e. wilbour
which of the following best describes the narrators perspective on darkness?
he thinks that darkness can provide thrilling moments of creative, joyful inspiration.
he believes that darkness is frightening because it causes people to imagine unseen dangers.
he sees darkness as an immediate threat that makes it nearly impossible to protect oneself.
he considers whether darkness is more interesting than the creatures that live in them

Explanation:

The passage describes darkness as inducing anxiety, making people imagine vague, threatening figures (chimeras, phantoms, dishevelments) and feel fear even when no immediate physical threat is present. It emphasizes that darkness distorts the mind to perceive unseen dangers, matching one option. Other options are incorrect: the text does not mention creative inspiration, frame darkness as an immediate physical threat, or compare darkness to creatures in it.

Answer:

He believes that darkness is frightening because it causes people to imagine unseen dangers.