What social commentary does mark twain make in this excerpt from "the £1,000,000 bank-note"? you will remember that the bank of england once issued two notes of a million pounds each, to be used for a special purpose connected with some public transaction with a foreign country. for some reason or other only one of these had been used and canceled; the other still lay in the vaults of the bank. well, the brothers, chatting along, happened to get to wondering what might be the fate of a perfectly honest and intelligent stranger who should be turned adrift in london without a friend, and with no money but that million-pound bank-note, and no way to account for his being in possession of it. brother a said he would starve to death; brother b said he wouldn't. brother a said he couldn't offer it at a bank or anywhere else, because he would be arrested on the spot. so they went on disputing till brother b said he would bet twenty thousand pounds that the man would live thirty days, any way, on that million, and keep out of jail, too. brother a took him up. brother b went down to the bank and bought that note. just like an englishman, you see; pluck to the backbone. a. rich londoners love to profess their wealth and use it to settle any argument. b. rich londoners are quick to bet huge sums of money to settle trivial arguments. c. rich londoners are apathetic toward the condition of the poor and would often use them as subjects for bets. d. rich londoners would spend huge sums of money to gain popularity in the upper class of london.

The correct answer is B) Rich Londoners are quick to bet huge sums of money to settle trivial arguments. The reason is because the Londoners were betting whether or not he would starve in a month. However they were not really concerned about him because they all knew the rich would not starve.

The correct answer is option letter B (Rich Londoners are quick to bet huge sums of money to settle trivial arguments.). In the short story “The £1,000,000 Bank-Note” (1893), Mark Twain criticizes the society and their everyday lives, giving his opinion and points of view. Social commentaries are an act of using rhetorical means to comment on issues in society such as freedom, cruelty, discrimination, and hypocrisy. One can find several instances of social commentaries in Twain's short story. Twain’s main social commentary is about the concept of perceived wealth and how it can change our life. For instance, since Henry has gained respect across London thanks to his great amount of money, he decides to tell Lloyd to use the reputation of Henry’s name to help sell Lloyd’s mine. Henry says, “I know all about that mine, of course; I know its immense value, and can swear to it if anybody wishes it. You shall sell out inside of the fortnight for three million cash, using my name freely, and we'll divide, share and share alike.”. Henry knows about his friend Lloyd’s financial troubles and that was his piece of advice. People never question if the mine was valuable, they just knew that that mine was the one that Henry was vouching for. Near the end of the month, the mine was purchased and that showed how important was Henry’s reputation and power to influence Londoners. Twain criticizes here the importance that people in London placed on money in the nineteenth century; people judged Henry based on what he had: money.

a, a knight

a. is the correct answer