The Pit and the Pendulum
"The Pit and the Pendulum" is certainly a "scary story." It's meant to give us goose bumps, make us shiver, and generally feel like a scaredy cat. That said, even as it taps into our emotions, it forces us to wonder about <em>why</em> and <em>what</em> we fear. In the story, something as seemingly inconsequential and mundane as thirst strikes fear into the narrator. As we read, we can't help but think, "What would I do in this situation?" And the most frightening thing of all may be the answer to that question. So remember, when you're reading a story, it's not only about how the characters feel, it's about how we feel, too, as readers. In this case: totally and completely freaked out.
Questions About Fear
- What is it that excites the most fear in our narrator? Conversely, is there anything that doesn't scare him?
- What aspects of human nature do the inquisitors play upon in order to strike fear into the heart of the narrator?
- Why do the inquisitors want to frighten the narrator before they kill him?
- What strategies does Poe use to scare the reader?
Chew on This
Poe himself is sort of an inquisitor: after all, he's trying to scare the crap out of us.
Strangely enough, it's not the grotesque horrors that scare our narrator the most; instead, it's the possibility of entering into a state of nothingness.