The Pit and the Pendulum

Why is the narrator's perspective subjective (why is he an unreliable narrator)?

• He is suffering hunger,thrist,terror,loss of consciousness, and possibly hallucinations

• He is a criminal who has been found guilty and sentenced to prison

• He is clearly biased against catholic beliefs

• He is something of a drama queen who sensationalizes as being worse than it is

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The story is told from which point of view?

• 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

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In “The Pit and the Pendulum,” the narrator explains, "The intensity of the darkness seemed to oppress and stifle me."

Why does Poe include this description of the narrator's feelings about the darkness?

• By having the narrator describe how something as ordinary as darkness bothers him, Poe is able to establish the narrator as an unreliable figure who is prone to exaggerations and lies.

• By having the narrator focus on his own feelings of being oppressed and stifled, Poe establishes the idea that the real danger that the narrator faces exists only in the narrator's mind.

• By having the narrator focus on the intensity of the darkness, Poe effectively directs the attention of readers away from the dangers that lurk within that darkness and lays the groundwork for the story's surprise ending.

• By having the narrator describe the darkness as a force that has a physical impact on him, Poe helps create a claustrophobic mood and a sense of the narrator's great fear and discomfort.

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How does Poe create suspense in this excerpt?

• by describing the narrator's distress as he tries to figure out where he is

• by having the narrator reach out and touch something unidentified

• by indicating that a long time has passed since the narrator was sentenced

• by suggesting that the narrator is reacting with an unrealistic degree of panic

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How does the first-person point of view affect “The Pit and the Pendulum”?

• It enables the reader to learn more about the Inquisition, the political power that has unjustly imprisoned the narrator.

• It helps the reader try to find a way out for the narrator from a number of different angles.

• Because it shows only what the narrator knows at any given point, it increases suspense and tension.

• It explicitly describes the narrator's joy when he is saved by the French general at the end.

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Read this excerpt from “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe.

Inch by inch—line by line—with a descent only appreciable at intervals that seemed ages—down and still down it came! Days passed—it might have been that many days passed—ere it swept so closely over me as to fan me with its acrid breath.

How does the pacing of this passage most affect the story?

• It creates a tense atmosphere that conveys the narrator's abject fear.

• It creates a highly-charged atmosphere that conveys the narrator's anger.

• It injects mystery into the story, which highlights the narrator's confusion.

• It injects surprise into the story, which highlights the narrator's shock.

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Read this excerpt from “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe.

These shadows of memory tell, indistinctly, of tall figures that lifted and bore me in silence down—down—still down—till a hideous dizziness oppressed me at the mere idea of the interminableness of the descent.

How does the first-person point of view most affect the meaning of the text?

• It shows the reader how the narrator feels about his captors and the fact that he is being held somewhere underground.

• It helps the reader understand the narrator's utter fear and hazy understanding of where his captors are taking him.

• It illustrates that the narrator is lost in his memories and afraid of them at the same time.

• It provides insight into the narrator’s fear of heights and how his captors knew this.

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The Pit and the Pendulum creates a sense of:

• Wonder

• Longing

• Confusion

• Horror

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At the end of the story, the —

• narrator plunges to his death in the pit
• narrator is saved from the pit by a French general
• inquisitors release him because he is really innocent
• prison burns, and in the turmoil the prisoner is able to escape

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What does the highlighted word mean? "I had swooned; but still will not say that all of consciousness was lost."

• awakened
• conscious
• fainted
• laughed

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