Read the excerpt below and answer the question.
conversation however was not wanted, for sir john was very chatty, and lady middleton had taken the wise precaution of bringing with her their eldest child, a fine little boy about six years old, by which means there was one subject always to be recurred to by the ladies in case of extremity, for they had to enquire his name and age, admire his beauty, and ask him questions which his mother answered for him, while he hung about her and held down his head, to the great surprise of her ladyship, who wondered at his being so shy before company, as he could make noise enough at home. on every formal visit a child ought to be of the party, by way of provision for discourse. in the present case it took up ten minutes to determine whether the boy were most like his father or mother, and in what particular he resembled either, for of course every body differed, and every body was astonished at the opinion of the others. (sense and sensibility, chapter 6, pp. 17-18)
explain what commentary austen is making about social conversation based on this excerpt. your answer should be at least 150 words.

It appears that in aristocratic society, a women's success is through her offspring. In this passage, she beings her son which is expected to be the center of attention. Other's admire him, yet he's shy and his presence wasn't as effective as the mother had thought. The author hints at this mentioning that people couldn't figure out who the son takes after, his mother or father...possibly implying that he was reserved instead of being outgoing as a child is expected to be.

For 5 points, this is all I'm going to write. You can fill in the rest to complete 150 words.

Through the stories of love and frustration and the daily life of the Dashwood sisters, Jane Austen criticizes the society of her time in a rather subtle way. Bearing in mind that women could not work at that time and that the only way to get what was considered success came through marriage and motherhood. In this excerpt, Austen shows how the social conversation of women at that time was about their children, because that was the only success and social ascension that women could aim for.

hello and welcome to the town of river dale. if you come to river-dale trust me you wouldn't want to leave.  

i believe it is b, but i could be wrong. im pretty sure im right tho. ; )