The Pit and the Pendulum Reading Comprehension Practice

Front

Where is the story set? Options: Toledo, Spain, Paris, France, Rome, Italy, Chicago, Illinois

Back

Toledo, Spain

Front

What is Poe's tone in the story?

Back

Dark, Serious, and Urgent

Front

What did he see on the ceiling? Options: stone, an animal, time, darkness

Back

time

Front

What does the narrator find when he trips? Options: pit, bulldog, rats everywhere, food

Back

pit

Front

The story is told from which point of view? Options: Third-person-limited view of a member of the French army, Omniscient view of the author, Third-person view of the inquisitor, First-person view of the prisoner

Back

First-person view of the prisoner

Front

What might explain how the candles seem to change shape from “slender angels” to “meaningless spectres”?

Back

The narrator is hallucinating.

Front

What fate does the narrator think awaits him?

Back

Starvation

Front

Inference: When the narrator is sentenced to die, the authorities provide him with food because they —

Back

plan more punishments before he dies

Front

How does the prisoner free himself?

Back

smears meat on the bonds that hold him, and the rats chew through them

Front

At the end of the story, the —

Back

narrator is saved from the pit by a French general Lasalle