The correct answer is B) Rich Londoners are quick to bet huge sums of money to settle trivial arguments. The reason is because the Londoners were betting whether or not he would starve in a month. However they were not really concerned about him because they all knew the rich would not starve.
The correct answer is option letter B (Rich Londoners are quick to bet huge sums of money to settle trivial arguments.). In the short story “<em>The £1,000,000 Bank-Note</em>” (1893), Mark Twain criticizes the society and their everyday lives, giving his opinion and points of view. Social commentaries are an act of using rhetorical means to comment on issues in society such as freedom, cruelty, discrimination, and hypocrisy. One can find several instances of social commentaries in Twain's short story. Twain’s main social commentary is about the concept of perceived wealth and how it can change our life. For instance, since Henry has gained respect across London thanks to his great amount of money, he decides to tell Lloyd to use the reputation of Henry’s name to help sell Lloyd’s mine. Henry says, “<em>I know all about that mine, of course; I know its immense value, and can swear to it if anybody wishes it. You shall sell out inside of the fortnight for three million cash, using my name freely, and we'll divide, share and share alike.</em>”. Henry knows about his friend Lloyd’s financial troubles and that was his piece of advice. People never question if the mine was valuable, they just knew that that mine was the one that Henry was vouching for. Near the end of the month, the mine was purchased and that showed how important was Henry’s reputation and power to influence Londoners. Twain criticizes here the importance that people in London placed on money in the nineteenth century; people judged Henry based on what he had: money.
