The masks worn by the prince and his friends symbolize a. optimism b. avoidance c. prevention d. merriment

The masks worn by the prince and his friends symbolize Avoidance

Explanation:

The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe is a story of a group of loyals who are hiding from a plage and they decide to have a masquerade, masks have always symbolized the secrecy of hiding something, in this case, it represents how hidden and disconnected they are from reality by thinking that they will not get sick as all the other people.

the manager emerges. taking marlow aside, he says they have done all they can for kurtz. he adds that kurtz did more harm than good for the company. his actions were too "vigorous" for the moment. the manager says that kurtz was unethically gathering ivory by exploiting the locals. this, of course, is rather ironic coming from a guy who makes his living by exploiting the locals in the worst ways.

explanation: