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 fact that the pattern moves contributes to the idea that the narrator’s husband is tyrannical. The fact that the pattern moves creates a sense of mystery and suspense, since the source of the moving is unknown. The image of the woman trying to escape suggests that supernatural forces are present in the narrator’s room. The image of the woman trying to escape contributes to the idea that the narrator feels trapped and unable to control her fate.
The image of the woman trying to escape contributes to the idea that the narrator feels trapped and unable to control her fate.
<em><u>Explanation:</u></em>
The woman attempting to escape from the backdrop is illustrative of the storyteller feeling caught in her very own life. This was a social issue of Gilman's time. The possibility that ladies were caught in their homes as a housewife powerless to control their very own destiny. While alternative C talks about heavenly powers which can be a component of gothic writing, the appropriate response does not mirror a social disposition. Alternative An and B are simply off-base.
