This question is incomplete. Here's the complete question.
Which sentence from the passage supports the idea that Newland Archer always made sure his behavior was socially acceptable?
A
"There was no reason why the young man should not have come earlier... New York was a metropolis, and perfectly aware that in metropolises it was 'not the thing' to arrive early at the opera..."
B
"In matters intellectual and artistic Newland Archer felt himself distinctly the
superior of these chosen specimens of old New York gentility; he had probably read more, thought more, and even seen a good deal more of the world, than any other man of the number...."
С
"Then light dawned on him, and with it came a momentary rush of indignation...the low-toned comments behind him left no doubt in Archer's mind that the young woman was May Welland's cousin."
D
"He had not gone back to his club after the Opera (as the young bloods usually did), but, the night being fine, had walked for some distance up Fifth Avenue before turning back in the direction of the Beaufort's house."
Answer: A
. "There was no reason why the young man should not have come earlier... New York was a metropolis, and perfectly aware that in metropolises it was 'not the thing' to arrive early at the opera..."
Explanation:
Wharton describes Newland Archer as feeling constricted inside the rigid society of the 1870's New York. The passage continues: 'what was or was not "the thing" played a part as important in Newland Archer's New York as the inscrutable totem terrors that had ruled the destinies of his forefathers' thousands of years ago,' showing his fear of not doing the right thing, like getting to the opera at the right time.
