I did this on apex few years back, if i remember correctly the answer was B.
Steinbeck was receive an award of noble prize :)
I'm pretty sure it is C. The reasons being that the poem is called "We Wear the Mask". That means that they are showing one thing on the outside, but are saying something different on the inside. Like they are pretending. C makes the most sense because the passage states that they smile on the outside but their souls are crying.
