Read the excerpt from "The Yellow Wallpaper." I wonder how it was done and who did it, and what they did it for. Round and round
and round—round and round and round—it makes me dizzy! I really have discovered something at last. Through watching so much at night, when it changes so, I have finally found out. The front pattern DOES move—and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it! Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over. Then in the very bright spots she keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard. And she is all the time trying to climb through. Which statement describes a gothic element in this excerpt that reflects a social attitude of Gilman's time?
The image of the woman trying to escape contributes to the idea that the narrator feels trapped and unable to control her fate.
Explanation:
In the story, the narrator thinks there is a woman trapped in the wallpaper and that she is trying to get out. Metaphorically, this woman represents her - she is trapped in her own life, with her husband controlling every second of it. She feels like she can't control her life, let alone her fate which is supposed to govern it. She is trying to escape the prison that is her life, but everyone is trying to stop her along the way.
