Read the excerpt from the awakening, and look at the plot diagram.
since the age of fifteen, which was eleven years before, robert each summer at grand isle had constituted himself the devoted attendant of some fair dame or damsel. sometimes it was a young girl, again a widow, but as often as not it was some interesting married woman.

which best explains this excerpt’s purpose in the novel’s plot structure?
the excerpt creates conflict between characters as part of the rising action.
the excerpt provides background information on a character as part of the exposition.
the excerpt returns a character to equilibrium as part of the falling action.
the excerpt is the point of greatest tension and acts as the climax.