Read the following passage from a 16th-century Spanish picaresque novel:
"I entered the house, which was dark and gloomy, containing no furniture except a three-legged stool and a bed roll. My master, a squire who dressed in fine clothes and wore a sword at his waist, walked with a proud bearing through the empty rooms. He spoke grandly of his ancestral lands and the honor of his family name, yet his cupboards were completely bare. When he sat down, he sighed and cleaned his teeth with a toothpick to make the neighbors believe he had eaten a hearty meal, though he had not tasted a single crumb of bread all day. Realizing that his noble status prevented him from working or begging, I went out into the streets myself to beg for scraps of food, so that both of us might survive the night."
Based on the squire's actions and circumstances, which social reality of 16th-century Spain does his behavior most directly reflect?
- The obsession with maintaining the appearance of noble honor and status despite experiencing severe povertyAnswer
- BThe strict religious devotion demanded of all Spanish citizens under the watchful eye of the Inquisition
- CThe rapid economic rise of a wealthy merchant class that challenged traditional aristocratic power
- DThe refusal of lower-class servants to support their noble masters in times of economic distress