Myths often function as a connection to the, or the customs and beliefs, a group of people

they are most likely about to fight in the battle of gaul

they used personification to make the truck seem mean and violent.

hope this !

the narrator is saying that the old lady made her feel uncomfortable. you know this because they say "i found that rather irksome", "perhaps it was her being so upright and trim", and "i don't think it was that, because i thought that quaintly pleasant." hope this !

in our power to make a world happy - to teach mankind the art of being so - to a character hitherto unknown - and to have, as it were, a new creation intrusted to our hands, are honors that command reflection, and can neither be too highly estimated,