Read the following passage from a nineteenth-century novel carefully before choosing your answer:
The conservatory at Mountford was a structure of iron and glass that resembled a gilded cage, trapping within its humid confines a collection of exotic, pale ferns that would have perished in the brisk, honest air of the surrounding downs. Here, Mr. Mountford cultivated his specimens under artificial heat, shielding them from the frost with heavy canvas blinds that shut out the grey winter light. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and decaying orchids, a cloying sweetness that made the lungs ache for a draft of cold wind. In this space, the family gathered to discuss the marriage portion of the eldest daughter, their voices muffled by the heavy foliage and the dull patter of rain against the glass panes, which distorted the outside world into a series of blurred, grey smears.
In the passage, the description of the conservatory primarily functions to do which of the following?
- Aprovide a literal record of the agricultural innovations used by the landowning class
- Bsummarize the sequence of events leading to the family's discussion of the marriage portion
- reflect the stifling social expectations and artificial constraints that govern the characters' livesCevap
- Dexpress the author's own philosophical preference for wild downs over domestic spaces
- Eestablish the physical dimensions of the house to explain the family's choice of meeting room