The following text is adapted from Edith Wharton's 1911 novella Ethan Frome. The narrator has asked the woman he rents a room from about Ethan Frome, a town resident he encountered recently.
Her mind was a store-house of innocuous anecdote and any question about her acquaintances brought forth a volume of detail; but on the subject of Ethan Frome I found her unexpectedly reticent. There was no hint of disapproval in her reserve; I merely felt in her an insurmountable reluctance to speak of him.
As used in the text, what does the word "reserve" most nearly mean?
Explanation
Context: In Ethan Frome, the narrator finds his landlady, usually full of anecdote, "unexpectedly reticent" about Frome, and notes no hint of disapproval in her reserve, only "an insurmountable reluctance to speak of him." The task is to define "reserve."
Answer: B) Constraint
Why? "Reserve" labels the behavior just described: on this one subject she holds herself back. "Constraint" is that self-restraint, a checking of speech the narrator senses without any judgment behind it.
Traps:
- A) Misgiving means doubt or apprehension about Frome, an attitude the sentence rules out when it denies any hint of disapproval.
- C) Composure means calmness under strain, but she is never shown as agitated or steadying herself, only as unwilling to talk.
- D) Modesty means humility about oneself, while her silence concerns Frome rather than her own merits.