An Enemy of the People
Henrik Ibsen

Peter Stockmann. I happened to be passing, and so--(looks into the dining-room). But you have company with you, I see.

Mrs. Stockmann (a little embarrassed). Oh, no--it was quite by chance he came in. (Hurriedly.) Won't you come in and have something, too?

Peter Stockmann. I! No, thank you. Good gracious--hot meat at night! Not with my digestion,

Mrs. Stockmann. Oh, but just once in a way--

Peter Stockmann. No, no, my dear lady; I stick to my tea and bread and butter. It is much more wholesome in the long run—and a little more economical, too.

"No, no, my dear lady; I stick to my tea and bread and butter. It is much more wholesome in the long run—and a little more economical, too."

What is Peter implying when he speaks these lines?
A) that he is very hungry at the moment
B) that the Stockmanns spend too much on food
C) that Mrs. Stockmann is a very good cook
D) that he is annoyed at not being invited to dinner

What Peter is implying in these lines from An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen is that the Stockmanns spend too much on food. The correct answer is B.

Explanation:

I chose the second option because none of these lines expresses if Peter is hungry or not, so A can't be the correct answer; neither do we know if Mrs. Stockmann is a good cook, we can't infer that from this text, so C is also not the correct answer, and Peter doesn't seem to be annoyed, in fact he is invited to dinner and rejects the invitation, so D is not the answer either. The correct answer is B: In those last lines Peter rejects Mrs. Stockmann's invitation to dinner because he prefers his bread and butter, which "is much more wholesome in the long run" and "a little more economical". By saying this, he is implying that the food the Stockmanns eat is expensive, and probably not as healthy as his.