WorksheetsThe Pit and the Pendulum
Total questions: 24
Worksheet time: 12mins
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
Pervading means
creeping slowly
increasing suddenly
spreading throughout
ending abruptly
What is a supposition?
an assumption
an experience
a discussion
a condition
What does lethargy mean?
fearfulness
sluggishness
forgetfulness
rudeness
If you confound people, you
harm them
scare them
confuse them
confront them
What is voracity?
request for freedom
dislike for truth
greed for food
hatred for light
Indeterminate means
hastily prepared
unanimously decided
not entirely available
not precisely known
What does eloquent mean?
unintentionally mean
precisely determined
emotionally expressive
comically stated
A lucid person is
morally corrupt
mentally sound
physically strong
emotionally unstable
What does insuperable mean?
unable to understand
impossible to overcome
powerless to resist
incapable of recovery
Pertinacity means
fierce loyalty
unstoppable descent
unyielding persistence
apparent rudeness
When the narrator is sentenced to die, the authorities provide him with food and water because they
feel sorry for him
always feed their prisoners until the end
left the food there by mistake
plan more punishments before he dies
Which of the following is NOT a feature of the prison cell in which the story is set?
a circular pit
stone masonry and metal plates
barred windows
paintings of demons, skeletons, and other frightening figures
Where is the story set?
Rome, Italy
Paris, France
Toledo, Spain
Chicago, Illinois
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
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
What does the word in parentheses mean? "I had (swooned); but still will not say that all of consciousness was lost."
awakened
conscious
laughed
fainted
What is the mood of the story?
fun and lively
serious and boring
suspenseful, mysterious, and horrifying
optimistic and hopeful
