Question

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? The narrator feels inadequate when she reports seeing a supernatural being and nobody believes her. The narrator feels like she lacks control of her own fate when her superiors refuse to answer her questions. The narrator is dismissed by her superiors when she asks questions about an occurrence that may have been supernatural. The narrator fears that she may be doomed when she witnesses a strange woman walking around the home.

Answer 1

The narrator feels inadequate when she reports seeing a supernatural being and nobody believes her is the correct answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Lady Maid's Bell was written by Edith Wharton; this short story was first published in 1902. Hartley, a lady's maid, finds a job with Mrs. Brympton, who should stay in her country due to health problems. Hartley has a good time adapting to the house and mates, but the room opposite to hers is locked and nobody wants to hell Hartley about the pale woman.

Letter A is correct because there is a supernatural element that is not explained to the character, and even further, it is being hidden to her. The story occurs in a time when employees just did their job without asking anything about their predecessors; another indicator is that Agnes is very loyal and doesn't want to reveal nor admit that there is something wrong going on.

Answer 2

The correct answer is the narrator feels inadequate when she reports seeing a supernatural being and nobody believes her.