Question

read the passage from treasure island in this excerpt, jim hawkins, alone on the island and separated from his friends, describes the tense atmosphere among the pirates.
guns flew like lightning, and every now and then there came forth such an explosion as i thought was sure to end in blows. but each time the quarrel passed off and the voices grumbled lower for a while, until the next crisis came and in its turn passed away without result.
in short, i could see the glow of the great camp - fire burning warmly through the shore - side trees. someone was singing, a dull, old, droning sailors song, with a drop and a quaver at the end of every verse, and seemingly no end to it at all; but the patience of the singer. i had heard it on the voyage more than once, and remembered these words:
but one man of her crew alive,
what put to sea with seventy - five.
and i thought it was a ditty rather too doleful appropriate for a company that had met such cruel losses in the morning. but, indeed, from what i saw, all these buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailed on.
from robert louis stevenson, treasure island
how does the author structure the passage to show the reader the personalities of the pirates?
by emphasizing the repetition of the songs verses to suggest the pirates unity
by alternating between perspectives of the narrator and the pirates to reveal their conflicting emotions
by creating a contrast between the pirates forceful arguments and the dejected singers song
by excluding evidence that incorporates imagery of the fire and song to highlight the pirates weariness and grief

Explanation:

The passage alternates between the narrator's observations (like seeing the camp - fire glow, hearing the quarrels pass off) and the pirates' actions (singing the song). This alternation shows the different emotions - the narrator's perhaps more detached or observant emotion and the pirates' more rowdy (quarrels) yet also somewhat melancholic (the song) emotions.

Answer:

by alternating between perspectives of the narrator and the pirates to reveal their conflicting emotions