Read the following passage carefully:
The carriage had scarcely rounded the stone gateposts of Oakhaven when Clara turned her face toward the window, her features composed into a mask of polite indifference that her mother knew only too well. For three months, Clara had endured the stifling air of the drawing-room at Highcliffe, nodding at the predictable platitudes of Lady Catherine and smiling when the conversation turned, as it inevitably did, to the prospects of the local estate. To her mother, Mrs. Lennox, this quiet compliance was a triumph—a sign that Clara had finally surrendered her headstrong notions of independence in favor of a sensible alliance. Yet, had Mrs. Lennox looked closer, she would have seen the white-knuckled grip Clara maintained upon her velvet reticule, the only outward sign of the silent rebellion raging within. Clara did not hate the society she was forced to navigate; rather, she despised the ease with which its members traded their genuine convictions for social security. When Mrs. Lennox remarked on the 'admirable prudence' of Lord Sterling’s recent investments, Clara merely murmured, 'Prudence is indeed a virtue of the ledger, Mother, but a poor compass for the soul.' The remark was delivered with such soft docility that Mrs. Lennox merely smiled, completely missing the sharp irony that cut through her daughter’s compliance.
Clara’s remark in the final sentence ('Prudence is indeed...') primarily highlights a conflict between which of the following perspectives?
- Clara’s insistence on moral and spiritual integrity and Mrs. Lennox’s valuation of material and social securityCevap
- BThe author’s direct critique of nineteenth-century marriage conventions and the characters’ passive acceptance of them
- CA hostile confrontation between a daughter intent on defying her family and a mother’s simple desire for obedience
- DThe narrator’s literal endorsement of Clara's outward obedience and Clara’s internal feelings of genuine remorse
- EThe tension between Lady Catherine’s domineering presence in society and Mrs. Lennox’s quiet guidance of Clara