He grew up in shanties, around the hot stoves of winter, among socks and mittens drying, in the smell of tobacco smoke and the roar of laughter mocking the outside weather.

The description of Paul Bunyan in the italicized sentence helps to establish him as:

A. a poor and uneducated immigrant newly arrived on land.
B. an ordinary hardworking man with universal human struggles.
C. a gentle and courageous outdoorsman who lived a solitary life.
D. an unusually strong lumberjack with respect for the natural world.