Answer :
Answer:
D. ironic perspective
Explanation:
Answer D
Correct. Irony emerges from the differences between an argument and the readersā expectations or values. At the very beginning of the second paragraph, the author undermines the readersā expectations regarding schemes of merriment (plans for enjoyment) with the assertion that āNothing is more hopeless than a scheme of merriment.ā He then goes on to describe how the anticipated pleasure of participants ends up ruining a social gathering: wits and humorists who come together āprepared to laugh and to applaudā are unable to perform as expected, and the party drags on painfully ātill at last none can bear any longer the presence of the rest.ā The failed social gathering is just one example that the author uses to convey his ironic perspective regarding peopleās attempts to enjoy themselves; the example of the traveler who embarks on a ājourney of pleasureā (paragraph 4, sentence 1) illustrates again the ironic contrast between peopleās imagination of pleasurable activities and their actual experience of such activities.