Discussion Questions: The Pit and the Pendulum
1. What is the narrator dreading when the story
begins?
2. Imagery can be defined as: when an author uses
such vivid detail and description that you are
able to sense or picture what it is he is
describing. How does Poe use imagery in the
first paragraph?
3. What does the author use to symbolize angels in the 1st paragraph?
4. What metaphor does Poe suggest for the seven tall candles?
5. What “fearful idea” drives the blood in torrents upon his heart? (Paragraph 1)
6. What does he mean when he speaks of the, “decent of the soul into Hades?”
7. What does he mean when he says he, “swooned?” What are the two stages that
one goes through when recovering from a swoon?
8. Where is the narrator taken by “tall figures?”
9. What does he see when he first opens his eyes?
10.What are “inquisitorial proceedings?”
11.What is the name of the place in which this story is set?
12.List three specific descriptive phrases that “show” what the torture chamber is
like.
13.How did the narrator begin to examine his cell?
14.What caused the narrator to fall prostrate, or lying down, and fall asleep?
15.How did the narrator discover the pit?
16.What was in the water that they gave him? Why do you think that they would
have done this?
Discussion Questions: The Pit and the Pendulum
17.What was the general shape of his prison cell?
18.How did the narrator find himself when he awoke this time?
19.What was the painted figure that he same above him of? What else did he see
above him?
20.What allured the rats to him?
21.What kind of figurative language is the author using when he compares his
heart to “the stealthy pace of a tiger?”
22.How did the narrator attract the rats to his bindings?
23.How was the narrator freed? What is the irony of his sudden freedom?
24.Find an example of personification in paragraph 3.
25.How did they next try to kill him?
26.What happens to the narrator at the conclusion of the story?
PONDER THIS:
1. Is Poe really the "inquisitor"? Why or why not? Explain.
2. What is the over theme of the story? What lesson (s) can you learn?
3. It might sound crazy, but considering the insights he's able to make into his
own being, can the narrator's trip to the dungeons be regarded as a positive
experience overall? In the end, we must think of the narrator's experience less as a
horrible tale and more as a profound learning experience. Even as Poe horrifies us
– or perhaps because he does – he forces us to consider how such experiences
would change our outlook on life and our notion of existence. Do you agree or
disagree that humans can learn from even trying or sad times?
4. Describe a defining moment for you (it doesn't have to be horrifying). How has
it changed your outlook or perspective on life?
5. Did you like the story? Why or why not?