A fact that draws our attention is that, according to his position in life, an…
2025
A fact that draws our attention is that, according to his position in life, an extravagant man is either admired or loathed. A successful business man does nothing to increase his popularity by being prudent with his money. A person who is wealthy is expected to lead a luxurious life and to be lavish with his hospitality. If he is not so, he is considered mean, and his reputation in business may even suffer in consequence. The paradox remains that he had not been careful with his money in the first place; he would never have achieved his present wealth.
Among the low income group, a different set of values exists. The young clerk, who makes his wife a present of a new dress when he has not paid his house rent, is condemned as extravagant. Carefulness with money to the point of meanness is applauded as a virtue.
Nothing in his life is considered more worthy than paying his bills. The ideal wife for such a man separates her housekeeping money into joyless little piles – so much for rent, for food, for the children's shoes, she is able to face the milkman with equanimity every month, satisfied with her economizing ways, and never knows the guilt of buying something she can't really afford.
As for myself, I fall neither of these categories. If I have money to spare I can be extravagant, but when, as is usually the case, I am hard up, then I am the meanest man imaginable.
Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage.
- A.
Being extravagant is always condemnable.
- B.
The cause of poverty is extravagance
- C.
Extravagance is a part of the rich as well as of the poor.
- D.
Stingy habits of the poor.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
The best title for a passage must state the theme that runs through the ENTIRE passage — every paragraph — not a claim drawn from only one part of it, and it must be a claim the passage's own content actually supports, not an inference the text never makes.
This passage first describes the wealthy: a rich man who is not lavish with money is seen as mean, so extravagance is expected of him. It then turns to the low-income group, where the very same behaviour — spending beyond one's means — is condemned, and careful economizing is praised instead. The closing paragraph adds that the author's own conduct also shifts with their means. Read together, the passage's real subject is how differently the SAME behaviour, extravagance, is judged depending on a person's income group — a theme that runs across both social classes, not one alone.
"Being extravagant is always condemnable" makes an absolute judgment, but the wealthy man in the opening paragraph is criticised for being too careful, not for being extravagant — so the passage does not treat extravagance as always wrong.
"The cause of poverty is extravagance" reads a cause between spending and poverty that the passage never states; it only contrasts attitudes toward spending across income groups, never what causes anyone's income level.
"Stingy habits of the poor" covers only the passage's low-income sections and leaves out the entire opening paragraph on the wealthy man's expected lavishness.
"Extravagance is a part of the rich as well as of the poor" is the only option that reflects both halves of the passage — the wealthy man's expected extravagance and the low-income group's opposite, thrift-praising values.