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?

A.The narrator feels inadequate when she reports seeing a supernatural being and nobody believes her.

B.The narrator feels like she lacks control of her own fate when her superiors refuse to answer her questions.

C.The narrator is dismissed by her superiors when she asks questions about a occurrence that may have been supernatural.

D.The narrator fears that she may be doomed when she witnesses a strange woman walking around the home.

Answer 1

I think it is C. The narrator is dismissed by her superiors when she asks questions about a occurrence that may have been supernatural.

Im not 100% sure but that seems like the correct answer.

Answer 2

The answer is A. Gothic literature generalyy is defined as writings that employ dark scennery, and an overal atmosphere of mystery, fear and dread, revolving around a house that conceals a terrible secret. In the exerpt, the speaker asks Agnes about a woman she saw as real as any other servant, which Agnes had not seen, and looked at her in disbelief.