Question

Excerpt from Babbitt Sinclair Lewis In Floral Heights and the other prosperous sections of Zenith, especially in the “young married set,” there were many women who had nothing to do. Though they had few servants, yet with gas stoves, electric ranges and dish-washers and vacuum cleaners, and tiled kitchen walls, their houses were so convenient that they had little housework, and much of their food came from bakeries and delicatessens. They had but two, one, or no children; and despite the myth that the Great War had made work respectable, their husbands objected to their “wasting time and getting a lot of crank ideas” in unpaid social work, and still more to their causing a rumor, by earning money, that they were not adequately supported. They worked perhaps two hours a day, and the rest of the time they ate chocolates, went to the motion-pictures, went window-shopping, went in gossiping twos and threes to card-parties, read magazines, thought timorously of the lovers who never appeared, and accumulated a splendid restlessness which they got rid of by nagging their husbands. The husbands nagged back. Which best expresses the irony present in this passage? A) It is ironic that the wives nag their husbands. B) It is ironic that the men work hard after the War ended. C) It is ironic that the young married women have so much, and yet feel quiet unhappy. D) It is ironic that the women went to the motion-pictures, did window-shopping, liked gossiping.

Answer 1

The answer is:

C) It is ironic that the young married women have so much, and yet feel quiet unhappy.

Irony is the opposite meaning of what is expressed.

In the excerpt, the narrator makes reference to the comfortable lives of many young, married women who were dissatisfied with their existences. For example, he mentions they owned servants and various kitchen devices, so they did not need to do much housework or even cook. They also had few or no children and worked two hours a day. As a result, they spent their time eating chocolate, gossiping, playing cards, going to the cinema and reading magazines. However, they felt their lives were empty and with a feeling of unrest.