Question

excerpt from the great gatsby by f. scott fitzgerald chapter 1 in my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that i’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. “whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” he didn’t say any more, but we’ve always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and i understood that he meant a great deal more than that. in consequence, i’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. the abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person, and so it came about that in college i was unjustly accused of being a politician, because i was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men. most of the confidences were unsought—frequently i have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity when i realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon; for the intimate... overlooked, so i had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires—all for eighty dollars a month. across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable east egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening i drove over there. what message do phrases such as “the consoling proximity of millionaires” and “white palaces of fashionable east egg glittered” convey to the reader? options: everyone in east egg lives in a palace. financial wealth has no relevance in this novel. the narrator despises people who live in large homes. financial wealth is desirable to the narrator.

Explanation:

• Analyze "the consoling proximity of millionaires": The narrator finds comfort in being near wealthy people, implying wealth is desirable to him.
• Analyze "white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered": The description of wealthy homes as glittering palaces also suggests the allure of financial wealth.
• Eliminate other options: "Everyone in East Egg lives in a palace" is an overstatement. "Financial wealth has no relevance" contradicts the positive tone toward wealth. "The narrator despises people in large homes" is wrong as "consoling" shows a positive view.

Answer:

Financial wealth is desirable to the narrator.