Which word can replace the phrase "lack of similarity" without changing the meaning of this sentence?

the lack of similarity in project quality is related to how much effort was exerted in the production of each project.

beneficiary

formulation

disparity

paradox

Stone, two or three feet thick, the door of wood and iron, a foot thick, and the iron grating which strained the light, i could not being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if i were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up. i wondered that it should have concluded at length that this was the best use it could put me to, and had never thought to avail itself of my services in some way. i saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through before they could get to be as free as i was. i did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar. i felt as if i alone of all my townsmen had paid my tax. — “civil disobedience,” henry david thoreau based on this passage, how did thoreau feel about his confinement?

The missionaries who appear in the novel are colonists from britain portugal spain italy

What effect does an author achieve b the language of the monstrous? y using words with strong connotations? how does this relate to