The Pit and the Pendulum

The narrator in "The Pit and the Pendulum" examines his surroundings by

• lighting a match so that he can see

• feeling his way around the cell

• running around the chamber

• yelling to hear echoes

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

In "The Pit and the Pendulum," why do the torturers put out food and water when the narrator first succumbs to fatigue?

• to poison the narrator

• to prolong the torture

• to elicit a confession

• to comply with the law

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

How does the narrator free himself from his bindings?

• waits until the pendulum cuts the bonds and quickly rolls out of the way

• screams and screams until they release him

• pays a great deal of money and is released

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

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

At the end of the story, the

• narrator plunges to his death in the pit

• inquisitors release him because he is really innocent

• narrator is saved from the pit by a French general

• prison burns, and in the turmoil the prisoner is able to escape

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

What is Poe's tone in the story?

• Serious and boring

• Happy and Joyfull

• Humorous and light 

• Dark, Serious, and Urgent

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Choose the best paraphrase for the following sentence: "The sentence-the dread sentence of death-was the last distinct accentuation which reached my ears."

• My death sentence was the last thing I heard clearly.

• I distinctly heard a sentence with the word death in it.

• My torturers wanted to pronounce a death sentence.

• Prisoners rarely heard about their own death sentences.

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

The story is told from which point of view?

• The third-person limited point of view allows the narrator to describe the setting and events from a distance.

• omniscient view of the author

• second person point of view places the reader alongside the narrator in the tale of horror.

• The first-person point of view limits the narrative to what the narrator knows and senses, thus increasing the fear and suspense.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

What aspect of Poe's style helps you understand the narrator's feelings in the following sentence: "I had been reserved for the latter. By long suffering my nerves had been unstrung, until I trembled at the sound of my own voice, and had become in every respect a fitting subject for the species of torture which awaited me."

• repeated words

• italicized words

• grotesque images

• first-person point of view

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

How does Poe's style help you understand the meaning of the following sentence: "Inch by inch-line by line-with a descent only appreciable at intervals that seemed ages-down and still down it came!"

• Grotesque images convey the horror of the narrator's situation.

• Unusual word choices cause confusion about what is happening.

• The first-person point of view conceals the torturers' plan.

• Repeated words add to the narrator's sense of desperation.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

Choose the best paraphrase for the following sentence: "The surcingle enveloped my limbs and body close in all directions-save in the path of the destroying crescent."

• The bindings wrapped only the part of my body where the pendulum would swing.

• The bindings wrapped my entire body tightly except where the pendulum would swing.

• The pendulum is going to hit my body after it cuts through the bindings.

• The pendulum would swing through the wrappings that covered my body.

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4