Read the excerpt from "The Lady Maid's Bell."
But that wasn't the only queer thing in the house. The very next day I found out that Mrs. Brympton had no
nurse; and then I asked Agnes about the woman I had seen in the passage
the afternoon before. Agnes said
she had seen no one, and I saw that she thought I was dreaming. To be sure, it was dusk
when we went down
the passage, and she had excused herself for not bringing a light; but I had seen the woman
plain enough to
know her again if we should meet. I decided that she must have been a friend of
the cook's, or of one of the
other women servants: perhaps she had come down from town for a night's visit, and the servants
wanted
it
kept secret. Some ladies are very stiff about having their servants' friends in the house overnight. At any rate,
I made up my mind to ask no more questions.
Which statement describes a gothic element in this excerpt that reflects a social attitude of Wharton's time?
O The narrator feels inadequate when she reports seeing a supernatural being and nobody believes her.
O The narrator feels like she lacks control of her own fate when her superiors refuse to answer her questions.
O The narrator is dismissed by her superiors when she asks questions about an occurrence that may have been
supernatural.
O The narrator fears that she may be doomed when she witnesses a strange woman walking around the home.