Question

Read this excerpt from "Goodbye to All That" by Joan Didion. In fact, it was difficult in the extreme for me to understand those young women for whom New York was not simply an ephemeral Estoril but a real place, girls who bought toasters and installed new cabinets in their apartments and committed themselves to some reasonable future. Which statement best explains the impact that the allusion to Estoril has on the meaning of the text? It helps establish that, since moving to New York City, Didion had been exposed to the kinds of cultural experiences and worldly individuals that she never could have encountered where she grew up. It helps convey how jarring it was for Didion to realize that life in New York City, which she had long imagined as a romantic and exotic place, could be rather ordinary and mundane. It helps suggest the way in which Didion came to understand New York City as a place where the impossible was possible and the fantastical could become reality. It helps indicate that Didion understands, soon after arriving in New York City, that she will never again be able to live in a place where life feels humdrum and predictable.

Answer 1

The answer is the option where it says: 
it helps convey how jarring it was for Didion to realize that life in New York City, which she had long imagined as a romantic and exotic place, could be rather ordinary and mundane.

Answer 2

Answer: It helps convey how jarring it was for Didion to realize that life in New York City, which she had long imagined as a romantic and exotic place, could be rather ordinary and mundane.

In this excerpt, Joan Didion conveys her experiences moving to New York. Before she went there, she had imagined that the city was a place of dreams, and that it held something exotic and special. She failed to realize that for many people who live there, New York is simply another city where they live common lives. She mentions buying a toaster and installing cabinets as examples of common things average people do, and which are not exciting or dreamlike.