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... read the excerpt from fitzgerald’s the great gatsby. the windows were ajar and gleaming while against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. a breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea. based on this excerpt, what inference can be made about the buchanans? the buchanans have fallen on desperate times and are trying to mask their financial collapse from friends. the image of luxury and elegance that they project is unstable like the wind blowing through the room.

Explanation:

To determine the correct inference, analyze the excerpt's description of the Buchanans' house: "frosted wedding - cake of the ceiling", "wine - colored rug", and the wind moving curtains like "pale flags" and creating a shadow "as wind does on the sea". The first option about financial collapse has no support. The second option connects the luxurious details (ceiling, rug) with the unstable wind - blown curtains, suggesting their projected luxury/elegance is unstable, matching the imagery.

Answer:

The image of luxury and elegance that they project is unstable like the wind blowing through the room.