This question is missing the excerpt and the answer choices. I have found them online. They are the following:
"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years, at least." "Ah! You do not know what I suffer!" "But I hope you will get over it, and live to see many young men of four thousand a year come into the neighborhood."
A. his psychological disorder has him believing that his wife's nerves are living, breathing people.
B. he uses his sense of humor to defuse tension with his wife.
C. he doesn't take his wife seriously at all.
D. a day doesn't pass where he doesn't think about other women.
Answer:
The statement about Mr. Bennet which is best supported by the passage is:
B. he uses his sense of humor to defuse tension with his wife.
Explanation:
Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are characters in Jane Austen's famous novel "Pride and Prejudice". According to the narrator, Mr. Bennet was attracted by Mrs. Bennet's beauty and joviality when they were younger. But, once they were married, he realized his wife was not what he expected at all. She was quite dramatic, always blaming her reactions on her nerves, and her main concerns were related to vain, shallow things.
<u>In order to deal with all that, Mr. Bennet resorted to humor. It is the only way he found to be able to cope with his wife, and even some of his daughters. He teases them, speaks ironically, pretends to not care about what they are saying, etc. All of this helps defuse tension and maintain the peace and good mood in the house.</u>
