Respuesta :
The narrator is dismissed by her superiors when she asks questions about an occurrence that may have been supernatural.
Answer:
The statement that describes a gothic element in this excerpt that reflects a social attitude of Wharton’s time is "The narrator feels like she lacks control of her own fate when her superiors refuse to answer her questions."
Explanation:
After seeing the strange woman and asking everyone about her and getting no answer from anyone, the narrator feels that she doesn't know what will happen since she doesn't know what happens in her present, the excerpt shows that feeling of the unknown which is also a very recurrent gothic element in literature.