Read the excerpt from "why i wrote 'the yellow wallpaper.'" then, using the remnants of intelligence that remained, and helped by a wise friend, i cast the noted specialist’s advice to the winds and went to work again—work, the normal life of every human being; work, in which is joy and growth and service, without which one is a pauper and a parasite—ultimately recovering some measure of power. which social attitude of gilman’s era does this excerpt demonstrate? working gives people a sense of competence and control. working is something that is done with the hands not the mind. working is only for those who have to make money to survive. working against a doctor’s advice has negative consequences.