Read the excerpt from The Awakening, and look at the diagram.

“I have a letter somewhere,” looking in the machine drawer and finding the letter in the bottom of the workbasket. “He says to tell you he will be in Vera Cruz the beginning of next month,”—”and if you still have the intention of joining him”—bang! clatter, clatter, bang!

“Why didn’t you tell me so before, mother? You know I wanted—” Clatter, clatter, clatter!



Where does this excerpt best fit on the novel’s plot diagram?
a climax
b rising action
c falling action
d exposition