How do the events surrounding “muffin” contribute to the theme of the short story?

Read the following passage "you're not here to read books, you're here to learn! " the childwrangler's voice screeched as we kept our picks moving rhythmically against the school walls. we had all heard about a time, back in the dark ages, when children read books at school. they say school was even a building above ground. but that was obviously dangerous. how could society thrive if all the children sat around reading all day? when would they have time to learn about veins of coal, processing fuel, and all that stuff? school was important.what two central ideas in this story are most closely related? a. the importance of literature and the dangers of miningb. humankind's basic survival needs and independence c. the nature of learning and societal dysfunctiond. the powers of rumors and abuse of authority

Based on the context of each quote from incidents in the life of a slave girl by harriet ann jacobs, find the word that most closely matches thedenotation of the bolded word

What is the metaphor used for captain beatty? what is he being compared to?