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Final Examination Review 1 - The Pit and The Pendulum

Total questions: 25

Worksheet time: 50mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

“To the victims of its tyranny, there was the choice of

death with its direst physical agonies, or death with its most hideous moral horrors.” Which does the narrator get?

a)

Neither

b)

Both

c)

Physical agonies

d)

Moral horrors

2.

“I longed, yet dared not, to employ my vision. [...] It was not that I feared to look upon things horrible, but that I grew aghast lest there should be nothing to see.” What does he see when he opens his eyes?

a)

Nothing. It’s completely dark

b)

A pit

c)

Father Time

d)

Bright white lights

3.

What thing is described here?: “the whole hissed”

a)

The pit

b)

The snake dangling from the walls

c)

The pendulum

d)

The judges

4.

What was “the last of distinct accentuation

which reached [the narrator’s] ears”?

a)

His wife crying

b)

The sentence of death

c)

His own screaming

d)

The judges saying “sorry”

5.

“I was an imbecile—an idiot.” What does this actually mean?

a)

He is mentally handicapped by fear.

b)

He forgets what 2 + 2 is.

c)

He can’t move anymore.

6.

Obviously the pit and pendulum strike fear into the

narrator—but what else does?

a)

Death

b)

Thirst

c)

Women

d)

The dark

7.

When are the narrator’s best thoughts formed?

a)

When he’s the most afraid

b)

In the dark

c)

When he’s drunk

d)

In the in-between state between consciousness and unconsciousness

8.

No one dies in this story, so how is it about death?

a)

Poe makes us ponder death.

b)

The narrator wants to die.

c)

The narrator is homicidal.

d)

Everyone is actually dead.

9.

Why can’t the narrator figure out the shape of the room in the dark?

a)

There is no definite shape.

b)

There are no walls.

c)

It is meant to disorient the narrator.

d)

Because he dies first .

10.

What is the narrator doing when he almost falls into the pit?

a)

Trying to escape

b)

Trying to measure the diameter of his cell

c)

Trying to exercise

d)

Running away from the rats

11.

Who is the picture on the ceiling?

a)

The narrator

b)

The judges

c)

Father Time

d)

General Lasalle

12.

What’s up with the pendulum?

a)

It’s gonna cut him in half!

b)

It’s measuring how long the narrator has been in the cell.

c)

It’s a swing.

13.

How does the narrator escape from the pendulum ?

a)

General Lasalle frees him.

b)

The rats chew him out of his restraint.

c)

He pushes himself into the pit.

d)

He sets it on fire.

14.

What happens after the narrator saves himself from the pendulum ?

a)

He falls into the pit.

b)

He breaks through one of the walls.

c)

He curls up and starts crying.

d)

The walls begin to glow and start caving in.

15.

The purpose of the Spanish Inquisition was to discover and punish converted Jews.

a)

True

b)

False

16.

Why isn’t the narrator burned at the stake?

a)

He’s not a witch.

b)

He’s not flammable.

c)

His jailors want to make him think.

d)

It’s too wet out.

17.

What does the pit symbolize for Catholics?

a)

Hell

b)

Swamps

c)

Heaven

d)

Torture

18.

What is Father Time holding instead of a scythe?

a)

A cane

b)

A pendulum

c)

A cat

d)

A knife

19.

What book does Poe constantly allude to?

a)

Grimm’s fairy tales

b)

Poe’s earlier works

c)

Trial records from the Inquisition

d)

The book of Revelation

20.

Why is Father Time on the ceiling?

a)

He is the bringer of death.

b)

He is the bringer of life.

c)

He’s terrifying.

d)

It’s just a really cool picture.

21.

How is the story told?

a)

Present tense

b)

Past tense

c)

As a fairy tale

22.

When is this happening?

a)

During the French Revolution

b)

During the American Civil War

c)

During the Spanish Inquisition

d)

During the Gulf War

23.

Who saves the narrator and what does it mean?

a)

One of the judges, because he felt bad

b)

Abraham Lincoln, because the Civil War is over

c)

He saves himself, because he’s magic

d)

General Lasalle, because the Inquisition is over

24.

What crime is the narrator imprisoned for?

a)

It’s never specified.

b)

He’s a witch.

c)

He murdered a man.

d)

He tried to fight against the Inquisitors.

25.

How many times is the word “horror” used?

a)

It’s never used.

b)

13

c)

5

d)

Like, every other word.