Which of the following is the best description of 19th-century american gothic novels?
celebrated idealism and the unity of god and nature
included elements of mystery, superstition, symbolism, and the supernatural
featured a hero who was always rational and controlled
were written to bring about political reform

The best answer is included elements of mystery, superstition, symbolism, and the supernatural.

Gothic is the portrait of the power of darkness of doom. Gothic fiction attacks the institutions which might inhibit the freedom of the individual. Corruption, greediness, lust is always projected in aristocrats or priests. And all the symbols of authority, secular or ecclesiastic, are in ruins: monasteries, churches, abbeys, castles, mansions, towers, ramparts. The Gothic hero is a rebel and he challenges the rules and attacks institutions. He is, therefore, the enemy of heaven. Through the Gothic modes, the obsessive concerns of American life could find expression.