Answer:
C. The passing of Will's youth.
Explanation:
In the science-fictional work "Golden Year" Igor Teper tells the story of Will and his struggle with loneliness and growing old. The fictional story is set in an administered setting of a forest that Will's wife Alice had helped create.
The given excerpt from the story shows the scene where Will finally decided to venture into the forest and be among the trees and feel Alice. In comparing the wooden bark to his own "age-mottled skin", Will's old age is emphasized. Though the trees were how they should be, in comparison, Will's skin had wrinkled and became old, "decayed far from the man Alice had agreed to marry."
Thus, this image of the bark emphasizes Will's passing youth.
