Question

REGINA (triumphantly) But you don’t know that in the last few days Ben has agreed to give us—you, I mean—a much larger share. HORACE. Really? That’s very generous of him. BEN. (laughs) It wasn’t so generous of me. It was smart of Regina. REGINA. (as if she were signaling HORACE) I explained to Ben that perhaps you hadn’t answered his letters because you didn’t think he was offering you enough, and that the time was getting short and you could guess how much he needed you— Which best describes why Regina tells the group, “I explained to Ben that perhaps you hadn’t answered his letters because you didn’t think he was offering you enough, and that the time was getting short and you could guess how much he needed you—”?to make Horace feel as though he deserves a portion of the creditto reassure Ben that she was telling the truth about her motivesto convince Ben that he has been wise to trust what she has saidto pacify Horace before he gets angry about what she has done

Answer 1

This excerpt comes from the play “The Little Foxes”  written by Lillian Hellman. The cunning Regina and her greedy brothers Ben and Oscar are scheming to extract money from her husband Horace’s business.

Question: Which best describes why Regina tells the group “I explained to Ben that perhaps you hadn’t answered his letters because you didn’t think he was offering you enough, and that the time was getting short and you could guess how much he needed you—”?

Answer: C. to convince Ben that he has been wise to trust what she has said