C: public education was important.
Explanation: the age of enlightenment marks itself as the age of science, reason, knowledge and development. The age advocated freedom, democracy and equal rights to all the citizens which includes public education too. With the development of science and technology, people questioned superstition and the knowledge of democracy helped them to question the arbitrary nature of the state towards the citizens.
The narrator is not part of the story and only states the characters' actions and speech.
In 1940,segregation of blacks and whites was still in the norm.
