Question

read the excerpt from the great gatsby. the telephone rang inside, startlingly, and as daisy shook her head decisively at tom the subject of the stables, in fact all subjects, vanished into air. among the broken fragments of the last five minutes at table i remember the candles being lit again, pointlessly, and i was conscious of wanting to look squarely at every one, and yet to avoid all eyes. i couldn’t guess what daisy and tom were thinking, but i doubt if even miss baker, who seemed to have mastered a certain hardy skepticism, was able to put this fifth guest’s shrill metallic urgency out of mind. to a certain temperament the situation might have seemed intriguing—my own instinct was to telephone immediately for the police. the phone calls that tom receives during the dinner are an indicator that he is trying to prevent his marriage from failing. he and daisy are not a happily married couple. he would rather be in the city than on the island. he has important business deals in the works.

Explanation:

In The Great Gatsby, this scene (with the mysterious dinner phone calls that upset Daisy) is a key early indicator of the tension and unhappiness in Tom and Daisy's marriage, hinting at Tom's infidelity and the couple's fractured relationship. The other options are not supported by this excerpt: there is no indication Tom is trying to "prevent marriage failure" here, no mention of his preference for the city over the island, and no link to "important business deals."

Answer:

○ he and Daisy are not a happily married couple.