Today, we are taking a second look at Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Pit and the Pendulum". After you have annotated the story for setting clues that point to the theme of Fear, please type the following as a comment to this post:
- Find two pieces of text from the story that best prove how the setting hints to the theme of Fear.
- Type both quotes and underneath them explain in two or more sentences how the quotes show this theme.
- Then, choose ONE of these three questions to respond to in two sentences or more:
- 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 (people who have imprisoned the narrator) want to frighten the narrator before they kill him?
- Looking at some of the suspense strategies that Poe uses to scare the reader, what is the most effective suspense strategy used and why?
“Cold. Damp. I longed to open my eyes, yet dare not employ my vision, not because i fear to look upon things horrible, but in fear that there should be nothing to see.” “I gasped and struggled at each vibration.”
ReplyDeleteIt shows fear because he is nervous about not being to see anything and he keeps gasping every time the pendulum shakes by going down down down. You can tell he is nervous when he gasps because he knows it’s coming. It shows the reader fear because you can picture the pendulum shaking and vibrating when it gets lower and lower. It also shows fear because it’s him worrying about something else with the pendulum coming down.
Question #1: The inquisitors wanted to build his fear up by making it dark because they know that people are usually scared of the dark. They also made it dark for him because it made it scarier that you couldn’t see anything. If majority of people react to something the same, they’ll use that to make him scared. They used rats for fear because a lot of people don’t like rats and if it’s pitch dark, it’d be more weird and scary than being able to see where the rats are.
ReplyDeleteAnthony’s quotes;
ReplyDeleteQ#1: “ I now saw that its nether extremity was formed of a crescent of glittering steel. Keen as that of a razor, and the whole hissed as it swung through the air.”
Q#2: “I counted the rushing vibrations of steel... The pendulum down it came with its acrid breath.. it vibrated within 3 inches of my bosom! still unceasingly..”
QUESTION TO ANSWER: Looking at some of the suspense strategies that Poe uses to scare the reader, what is the most effective suspense strategy used and why?
The most effective suspense strategy to author uses is Pacing . an example of that is that when it looks like the pendulum will slice the narrator in half, The author suddenly gets free from the pack of rats! its most effective because it makes the reader think that something will happen then it suddenly changes!
“With a steady movement-- cautious, sidelong, shrinking, and slow-- I slid from the embrace of the bandage and beyond the sweep of the scimitar.”
ReplyDelete“I now saw that its neither extremity was formed of a crescent of glittering steel as keen as that of a razor, and the whole hissed as it swung through the air.”
These show fear because when people are scared they don’t make sudden movements. And if someone had a razor swinging in front of their face they’d be scared.
I think they want to scare the narrator before they kill him to torture him. And make his last minutes of life horrible.
Kyle’s quotes;
ReplyDeleteQ#1 “A peculiar smell of decayed fungus arose to my nostrils”.
Usually a bad smell makes you want to get away from where the smell is because you don't like that smell.
Q#2 “ I discovered an earthen dish filled with pungent meat by my side on the floor”.
People usually think that a “pungent meat by my side on the floor” is nasty and don’t like it so the narrator is prolly wanting to get away from that area.
“What aspects of human nature do the inquisitors play upon in order to strike fear into the heart of the narrator?”
The inquisitors use nasty smells and nasty things to try to gross the narrator out and make him afraid.
¨Darkness!Nothingness.I dread to move a step,lest i should find naught but the walls of the tomb¨
ReplyDelete¨While I gazed,they came up in troops, hurriedly, with ravenous eyes,allured by the scent of the meat.¨
Both of these show that he is feared by these because he is scared of the dark. Worried if he moves another step he will find the tomb.Not knowing where you are or what your going to bump into is scary. When he uses ravenous for what the rats looked like that means he was scared of them ,that maybe they will eat him . You woudn´t call someone/something ravenous if they didn´t look scary to you and people just don´t like rats
question 2
I think that the inquistors just wanted to see him in pain,they found entertainment in watching him suffer.We like to watch people getting hurt because in some sick way we find it funny to watch.
“But now what mainly disturbed me was the idea that it had perceptibly descended. I now saw that its neither extremity was formed of a crescent of glittering steel as keen as that of a razor, and the whole hissed as it swung through the air.”
ReplyDelete“ Struggling to imagine what hellish torment would be visited on me next.”
I believe that this shows fear because it gets the reader scared for the narrator and it shows that the narrator is scared as well.I the first quote says how e is disturbed and scared and it saying it “hissed” put the image in the readers mind so they get scared about what is going to happen to him. The second quote says
“hellish torment” it is him describing that he thinks that it will be a terrible horrible awful thing. And that puts it in the readers mind as like something terrible will happen. So they still hope that it turns out good for him.
Question #3
I think he used the dark cell of nothingness with a huge abyss in the middle as a gloomy creepy setting. I think he used time as a big one like how much time he had left until he died. But i think the biggest one was sound like when he heard the hiss of the pendulum, and the rats creepy around.
What aspects of human nature do the inquisitors play upon in order to strike fear into the heart of the narrator?
ReplyDelete“Cold,damp,darkness,and nothingness”
“Enormous rats, they came in troops, hurriedly, with ravenous eyes, allured by the scent of the meat.”
These two quotes show fear because he was scared to be in the dark and it turns out that he is in a dark,cold,damp room with nothing in there other than huge rats with red eyes.And they are coming at him and it is even worse that he has meat by him.
“Darkness! Nothingness!”
ReplyDeletethis shows that it is so dark that he can’t see anything. also shows how that if something else is in there, he won’t know because of the darkness.
“The pendulum already pressed upon my bosom.”
this shows that the blade is so close that he feels it on the tether on his chest. this also makes you feel anxiety to know if he will live.
the inquisitors want to prove a point about making the king mad. also they want to make a point about the power they have over death.
1) “Darkness! Nothingness.” - this quote shows the theme of fear because if u are surrounded by just darkness and you can't see anything then fear builds up inside you, like the prisoner felt in fear.
ReplyDelete2) “Its sweep was brief and slow. I watched it for some minutes.”- in fear the theme is suppose to be scary frightened something that makes you want to get out of there and this quote relates to that because it tells us that the pendulum was slow and that it would build up tension in the story and and build fear into the reader and prisoner.
3)3) The pendulum. the pendulum was the best suspense builder because it moved brief and slow and took a while before the narrator escapes from it and there was a lot of detail and thought put into the pendulum.
1)
ReplyDelete“Darkness! Nothingness. I dread to move a step.”
“Death would have been a relief”
2)
a)“Darkness! Nothingness. I dread to move a step.”- This shows fear because he is afraid to move. He doesn’t know what is going on and he can’t see anything, and he is scared that he will get hurt or be in danger.
b)“Death would have been a relief”- This shows that this is an example of fear because he would rather die than be waiting to be dead in the prison. I would imagine there would be fear if he’d rather die than wait to die and that shows fear to me.
3)
Looking at some of the suspense strategies that Poe uses to scare the reader, what is the most effective suspense strategy used and why?- He uses lots of “pacing” and
“teasing/misdirection” strategies in his work. He drags people in and leaves people on the edge of their seats, which is why people want to read more Edgar Allan Poe stories and poems.
“Cold. Damp. I fear to look upon things horrible, but in fear that there should be nothing to see.” All this explains fear because cold and damp may be in fearful things. This also shows fear because the person wants nothing to see. If you have fear against something it is better not to see it. In things about fear it is cold.
ReplyDelete“Death, any death but that of the pit!” He has fear against the pit. He will die in any way but not on the pit. It is better to die in something else other than the pit.
“I remembered the rats. They were wild, bold - ravenous”
ReplyDeleteSo i think most people would consider rats being very scary, especially if they were wild.
“Death, any death but that of the pit”
This shows that he’s fearful of dying in that kind of manner, which sets the tone kind of high.
Quote #1
ReplyDelete“Its sweep was brief and slow. I watched it for some minutes, somewhat in fear, but more in wonder.”
Explanation: The narrator was kind of scared that he might die soon, he watched it get closer and closer to him every slow sweep of the pendulum. He was in fear of the pendulum but also wondering when it would get to him and also how mesmerising it was to watch every slow sweep of it.
Quote #2
“Death would’ve been a relief, oh, how unspeakable!”
Explanation: It was not worth those few extra minutes of life, he would rather just die right then to get it over with. He could bear the suspense no longer, he needed the relief of suspense.
Question #1
They did this to him so he would feel guilty and regret the crime he did and normally people do not like suspense of waiting and they are impatient. Also humans don’t like the feeling of being in the dark, they like to know their surroundings.
¨Cold. Damp. Oh god, what have I done? Oh god, what have they done? Oh god, why have you abandoned me? I longed to open my eyes, yet dare not to employ my vision, not because I fear to look upon things horrible, but in fear that there should be nothing to see.¨
ReplyDeleteHe knows he did not do the crime, and he is scared of what is going to happen to him, he doesn't want to die in there, not for something he didn't do. He feels scared he feels like the people betrayed him, he feels like he's alone and no one is there for him, not even god.
¨I pushed the walls with all my might in a futile effort to halt the wall's advance. Death, any death but that of the pit! The closing walls pressed me resistantly onwards. I felt I tottered upon the brink--¨
He's determined to not be killed in here, first he escaped from the pendulum, and now he's fighting off the walls. He does not want to jump into the abyss to relieve himself of being killed.
2.) The inquisitors try to scare him before he gets killed because they must feel like its payback for the crime he committed.
“I longed to open my eyes, yet dare not employ my vision, not because I fear to look upon things horrible, but in fear that there should be nothing to see.” “Darkness! Nothingness. I dread to move a step, lest i should find naught but the walls of a tomb.”
ReplyDeleteThese two quotes show the setting of fear by using strong words to show that they have fear. The first quote shows fear by saying that he had longed to open his eyes. All that that quote is saying is that he really wanted open his eyes but he didn’t because he was too scared of what he was going to see. Also in the first quote it says that he fears to look at the horribly bad things in the room, because there could be nothing to see. That is showing that he is fearful because he doesn't want to find nothing in the room, he wants to be able to find something, anything but nothing. The second quote is showing fear through the words, “Darkness! Nothingness. I dread to move a step,” If he is dreading to move a step then he doesn't want to take the chance by moving and get hurt or fall, and he doesn't know where he is.
I will be answering question #2. The inquisitors want to scare the narrator before they kill him because he doesn't know where he is and they want to get a rise out of him. They want to see if they can mess with his mind by using the mice, pendulum, and the pit. They want him to torture him before he dies.
“Cold. Damp. I longed to open my eyes yet dare not employ my vision, not because i fear to look upon horrible things, but in fear that there should be nothing to see.”
ReplyDelete“i found the room dimly lit. i realized that i now lay upon my back. a long strap restrained me.”
this show fear because most people find dim lit rooms or darkness scary. also waking up on your back and be restrained would fill a person with fear.
the fear of being stolen and tortured.also using the characters fears against them. (example ms tesmer and spiders)
“ As I beheld it drawn up into the ceiling by some invisible force, I was was plunged into darkness once more and a new sound encircled me”.
ReplyDeleteIn a way this is fear because you don’t know what is surrounding you when it in total dark.
“I pushed against the wall with all my might in a futile effort to halt the wall’s advance”
He is pushing against the walls and knowing that you are about to get crushed is scary.
“Darkness! Nothingness. I dread to move a step. And what worse fate could I be condemned than my own fear?”
ReplyDelete“The walls behind me were moving, pushing me inexorably towards the yawning chasm of the pit.”
This shows fear because the narrator is saying that he kept convincing himself that he would be consumed by his own fears. The narrator believes the pit is going to be his death, he believes the pit contains his worst fear, darkness and nothingness.
Looking at some of the suspense strategies that Poe uses to scare the reader, what is the most effective suspense strategy used and why?
I think that the “Ticking Time Bomb” is the most effective suspense trait it means that there is the promise of certain violence or doom within a given time frame unless the character can prevent it. This is pretty much describing the pendulum that kept on descending downwards toward the narrator and before he escapes he wishes that death will just come to him.
“Cold. Damp. I longed to open my eyes yet dare not employ my vision, not because i fear to look upon horrible things, but in fear that there should be nothing to see.”
ReplyDelete“i found the room dimly lit. i realized that i now lay upon my back. a long strap restrained me.”
this show fear because most people find dim lit rooms or darkness scary. also waking up on your back and be restrained would fill a person with fear.
the fear of being stolen and tortured would fill the narrator with fear.also using the characters fears against them edgar allan poe was afraid of being buried alive.
“ As I beheld it drawn up into the ceiling by some invisible force, I was was plunged into darkness once more and a new sound encircled me”.
ReplyDeleteIn a way this is fear because you don’t know what is surrounding you when it in total dark.
“I pushed against the wall with all my might in a futile effort to halt the wall’s advance”
He is pushing against the walls and knowing that you are about to get crushed is scary.
Question 2 : To kinda tell him that he about the crime he did .
¨Darkness!Nothingness.I dread to move a step,lest i should find naught but the walls of a tomb.¨ ,¨cold and damp¨ He is in a big room that is not suitable to live in and can kill a person instantly.
ReplyDeleteThis specific quotes is symbolizing fear because of the way it is worded by him saying the room is dark,empty and cold and damp so he is in a big dark room and it is cold and wet in the room.They may have wanted to frighten him so he wouldn't think he was so tough after.
‘’The sweep of the pendulum had increased in extent by nearly a yard.’’
ReplyDelete‘’i prayed i wearied heaven with prayer for its more speedy descent.’’
On the first one he clearly states that he was afraid of the pendulum hitting him.
He was worried that he will die so he was praying not to because no one wants to die.
On respond to number 2 they want them to be scared because they're bad people and don't care what the prisoners feel. They think they deserve the punishment for what they did.
ReplyDelete1) “A peculiar smell of decayed fungus arose to my nostrils”
This shows fear because if he smells something gross you will probably want to leave or cover your nose. He sounded like he didn’t want those smells in his nose.
2) ”A slight noise attracted my notice, and, looking to the floor, I saw several enormous rats traversing it. They had issued from the pit which now was within view while i gazed, they came up in troops hurriedly, with ravenous eyes, allured by the scent of the meat”
This shows fear because he sounds a little scared and doesn't want enormous rats surrounding him on the floor. He saw that they came from the pit and the narrator was scared of the pit.
3) The inquisitors wanted the narrator to be frienten because then when they killed him he would already be so scared that he wouldn’t be that scared when they actually killed him. The inquisitors wanted him to be full of fear so instead of killing him they would just scare him really bad.
Darkness and nothingness is fear.would you be in the darkness while a pendulum comes down on you. i don't think so.that how the man felt. Do u know that the man hates the darkness. he would rather dies of a blade cutting him into pieces rather than dieding in a pit where there is nothing but only DARKNESS!!!!! Do you feel the pain? are you scared? well don't be it will haunt you
ReplyDelete. Why do the inquisitors (people who have imprisoned the narrator) want to frighten the narrator before they kill him?
they want to tell the man not to do the troubling things again .
they want to scare him .
they want to make sure that no one else does this again.
“I pushed against the walls with all my might in a futile effort to halt the wall’s advance.”
ReplyDelete“It vibrated within three inches of my bosom!”
This showcase fear because the first quote he is scared that he might fall into THE PIT OF DOOM and nobody know how far to pit goes down.
Then for the next quote the pendulum was so close to his chest that he can hear it and most people would be screaming in terror if that was that close to them.
Question #2: they think that they should suffer for what he has done. And they don’t really care about how the prisoner feel.
1)“Cold. Damp. Darkness! Nothingness. I dread to move a step, lest I should find naught but the walls of a tomb.”
ReplyDelete“As I beheld it drawn up into the ceiling by some invisible force I was plunged into darkness once more and a new sound encircled me. Struggling to imagine what hellish torment would be visited on me next, i felt myself slowly but relentlessly pressed forward. The walls behind me were moving, pushing me inexorably towards the yawning chasm of the pit.”
2)This shows the theme fear because it describes the setting and makes it seem horrible and he has fear of what he might find in the darkness. He believes his worst fear are in the pit and the walls are pushing him towards it.
3)The most effective suspense strategy was pacing because he made it look like something was going to happen but then suddenly changed it. An example would be when the pendulum was getting closer, closer and closer and it seems like its going to cut him in half and then the straps break free.
¨Darkness!Nothingness.I dread to move a step,lest i should find naught but the walls of the tomb¨¨And yet to what worse fate could i be condemned than my own fear?¨
ReplyDelete¨They had issued from the pit¨.¨While I gazed,they came up in troops, hurriedly, with ravenous eyes,allured by the scent of the meat.¨
Both of these show that he is feared by these because he is scared of the dark. Worried if he moves another step he will find the tomb.Not knowing where you are or what your going to bump into is scary. When he uses ravenous for what the rats looked like that means he was scared of them ,that maybe they will eat him . You woudn´t call someone/something ravenous if they didn´t look scary to you and people just don´t like rats
question 2
I think that the inquistors just wanted to see him in pain,they found entertainment in watching him suffer.We like to watch people getting hurt because in some sick way we find it funny to watch.
“Cold. Damp. I fear to look upon things horrible, but in fear that there should be nothing to see.” All this explains fear because cold and damp may be in fearful things. This also shows fear because the person wants nothing to see.
ReplyDeleteQ2.They want to frighten the narrator before they kill him because they are torturing him. They frighten him because then he will still be scared even though thing will still go bad on him
“Death, any death but that of the pit!” He has fear against the pit. He will die in any way but not on the pit.
Q1.The sense of fear the narrator has on the pit. It strikes into him more than anything.
“Its was sweep was brief and slow. I watched it for some minutes somewhat in fear but more in wonder.”
ReplyDelete“When i again cast my eyes upward what i saw confounded and amazed me. The sweep of the pendulum had increased in extent by nearly a yard.”
They show it because the quote even says that when he was watching some minutes just staring at it.
And when he was laying on the table he had nowhere to go he was sitting and waiting for the pendulum slice through him
Question 1
The aspect they used was The ticking bomb. When they brought him in the cell they knew he was going to explore so when he fell in the pit they expected.Then when he woke up again he was tied up on the table and the pendulum was going down and they had the pendulum going slow so when he was laying down he was waiting for a long time for it to strike him.Then after the mouse ate the ropes they made the walls close in and make him go in the pit till the last minute.
"The walls behind me were moving, pushing me inexorably towards the yawning chasm of the pit." "The closing walls pressed me resistlessly onwards. I felt that I tottered upon the brink --" Both these quotes represent fear in many ways. First it seem that the narrator is afraid of enclosed places and the dark .Which is why the walls moving him closer to the pit of dark and nothingness is frightening. The inquisitors wanted to frighten the narrator before they killed him so he could appreciate the way he died. When he thinks he's on the verge of dieing they come to his rescue.
ReplyDelete“The sweep of the pendulum had increased in extent by nearly a yard.But what mainly disturbed me was the idea that it had perceptibly descended.”
ReplyDeleteit explains fear because the pendulum is coming closer and closer but slowly because you don’t know when its going to come all the way down and hurt you.because he just wants to get over with it
“inch by inch--line by line-down it came until finally it swept so closely over me as to fan me with its acrid breath.
it explains how closely the pendulum is that is fans him. and how scared he is because it so close its going to cut him.als
“Groping with this free arm, in the faint light, I discovered an earthen dish filled with pungent meat by my side on the floor.” This shows the theme of fear because in his wording you can tell he is in fear. Just by him stating “Groping with this free arm” shows he is terrified to me because if you only have one free arm you would be scared. In my opinion Poe’s best suspense strategy in this story is Teasing/Misdirection. This is the most effective because it makes you want to keep reading and it scares you because things are revealed slowly. It scares the reader because he is telling us things slowly which makes things more terrifying.
ReplyDelete“I had scarcely stepped from my bed of horror upon the stone floor of the prison, when the motion of the hellish machine ceased.”This shows the theme of fear because he states he is in horror. It also shows fear because of his word choice. The inquisitors want to scare the narrator before his death so they can scare him even more. They also scare him to make him nervous and to freak out. They want to scare him because they want him to be terrified and put him in more pain and to make him suffer.
*Two quotes from the pit with poe *
ReplyDeleteFor nearly a minute I hearkened to its reverberations as it dashed against the sides of the chasm in its descent: at length....
Explanation:
This shows the theme of fear by saying that when he threw the rock down the pit it took nearly a minute for it to hit the ground and that shows that the pit is really long and that explains why that is a theme of fear.
Darkness! Nothingness!
Explanation:
This shows the theme of fear by saying that when he said darkness nothingness it is showing that he fears darkness and nothingness and that is scary.
Looking at some of the suspense strategies that Poe uses to scare the reader, what is the most effective suspense strategy used and why?
How it took the rock a minute for the rock to hit the ground and i think that it is scary showing how long the pit is and how he said it is dark and there is nothing can see because of how dark it is you that is scary too.
They said he kept fainting and waking up some were else saying that he is terrified of what is going to happen next.
ReplyDeleteBeing unable to see due to the dark is scary in itself because of the anticipation of what frightening things lie ahead. In the text, it states in the 4th paragraph, “Darkness! Nothingness.” This adds fear to the setting because he is nervous as to what horrible things lurk in what appears to be nothing at all, when will nothing become something?
ReplyDeleteHowever, adding to the fear setting, can be that there is, although limited, vision of your surroundings. In paragraph 7, it says “-the room dimly lit.” This allows him to see the ravenous rats and the ever-growing closure of the dreaded pendulum.
These quotes are the same because the lighting affects the theme of fear. In a dim situation, you can see the horrifying things that lurk but are still limited, for the suspense of “what lies ahead?”
QUESTION # 1. One aspect the inquisitors play upon the narrator to scare him is the fact that he cannot see anything at first, as I explained already, his mind does much of the scare. Another is the knowledge of death, and seeing it approach, as the pendulum lowers. Yet another example is the uncertainty, as he wandered in the dark, before he found the abyss, he had no idea what lay ahead of him, as well as after he escaped the pendulum, he had no idea what lay ahead but he knew they wouldn’t just let him go. Lastly, the disorientation , when he passes out near the abyss and wakes up strapped awaiting death from the pendulum, he obviously takes a second to figure out where he is what’s going on.
Find two pieces of text from the story that best prove how the setting hints to the theme of Fear. A: Darkness! Nothingness. And Cold Damp
ReplyDeleteType both quotes and underneath them explain in two or more sentences how the quotes show this theme. 1:It’s no light and nothing there. 2: cold and uncomfortable.
Then, choose ONE of these three questions to respond to in two sentences or more:
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 (people who have imprisoned the narrator) want to frighten the narrator before they kill him?
Looking at some of the suspense strategies that Poe uses to scare the reader, what is the most effective suspense strathe the sympathetic is the one that scares me the most because he could play his character great
Cold and dark. "I fear to look upon things horrible, but in fear that there should be nothing to see". This explains fear because if the room your trapped in is pitch black and its freezing you wouldn't know what to do and thus leading to panic.
ReplyDeleteQ1: they make it dark so the narrator cant see anything happening around him, he could only hear what they're doing. they left the pit there in hopes that he would fall to his death but the mice stopped him from getting cut up so they made the walls close so he would fall in.
Find two pieces of text from the story that best prove how the setting hints to the theme of Fear. A: Darkness! Nothingness. And Cold Damp
ReplyDeleteType both quotes and underneath them explain in two or more sentences how the quotes show this theme. 1:It’s no light and nothing there. 2: cold and uncomfortable.
Then, choose ONE of these three questions to respond to in two sentences or more:
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 (people who have imprisoned the narrator) want to frighten the narrator before they kill him?
Looking at some of the suspense strategies that Poe uses to scare the reader, what is the most effective suspense strathe the sympathetic is the one that scares me the most because he could play his character great
Nothingness and enclosure!
ReplyDeleteThis is telling how the room is scary and feels little. It also tells how the persons emotions are so the narrator is scared.The inquisitors probably wants him to be scared so he can be trapped to fall into the abyss.
1. “I lay upon my back. A long strap restrained me, leaving at liberty only my head, and my left arm.” 2. “I now saw that its neither extremity was formed of a crescent of glittering steel as keen as that of a razor and the whole hissed as it swung through the air.”
ReplyDeleteThese quotes represent fear because they both include that tempting urge of being free and that trapped feeling. Number 1 he couldn't get up because he was strapped up, he probably felt helpless and kept thinking “what’s going to happen to me now?” “why did they strap me?” and while people think these kind of questions they get fear trapped in there head. As the pendulum got closer and closer to him hissing while it swing also probably frightened him because you will think about what its going to do to you and while you think that you get helpless and scared because you start to think about the pain you're going to or might feel. I think they would want a frightened Narrator before they killed him because they would want to torture him with fear so that he struggles and tries to escape.
¨Darkness! Nothingness.I dread to move a step" this shows that this is a scary setting darkness is usually a very scary thing for alot of people “Cold. Damp. I fear to look upon things horrible, but in fear that there should be nothing to see.” this shows alot of things horrible usually means bad looking or tragic but the word he uses obviously shows he scared and he fears which fear usually involves scary things
ReplyDelete1. One statement from the text, is " I longed to open my eyes, yet dare not employ my vision, not because i fear to look upon things horrible, but in fear that their shall be nothing to see." Another good example from the text is, " Upon waking, I found the room dimly lit. But when i tried to move, I realize that i now lay upon my back.
ReplyDelete2. These examples from the text show theme, because you do not know if you are going to be alive, or dead, if you wake up or not. Also when you are in a dark room, that is dimly lit, you would get that sense that their is something going wrong.
3. 1: they show fear on the narrator, of putting the narrator in the dimly lit room. Another good example that they did was slowly dropping the pendulum closer to the narrator.
Quote 1:
ReplyDelete¨I longed to open my eyes, yet dare not employ my vision, not because I fear look upon things horrible, but in fear that there should be nothing to see.¨
Quote 2:
¨It’s sweep was brief and slow. I watched it for some minutes, somewhat in fear, but more in wonder.”
How the two Quotes Show the Theme: The first quote shows fear by the narrator not wanting to open his eyes because of the horrible things that he might see in the eternal darkness of the tomb. The second quote shows fear by the narrator feeling the pain of the Pendulum slicing him, but he's more in wonder of how he got in this position.
Question:
In response to question 3 sentence 2: I think that the inquisitors want to strike fear into their prisoners so that they want them to wish to die or want to join them as a slave because it won’t be as bad.
“Darkness! Nothingness. I dread to move a step,lest I should find naught but the walls of a tomb. And yet to what worse fate could I be condemned than my own fear?” He says that because the walls are too close and he is scared.
ReplyDelete“I found the room dimly lit. But when I tried to move, I realize that I now lay upon my back.” He was terrified because of the room being sark and now he’s not but still scared. Because he doesn’t know what’s going on.
“Darkness! Nothingness. I dread to move a step,lest I should find naught but the walls of a tomb. And yet to what worse fate could I be condemned than my own fear?” He says that because the walls are too close and he is scared.
ReplyDelete“I found the room dimly lit. But when I tried to move, I realize that I now lay upon my back.” He was terrified because of the room being sark and now he’s not but still scared. Because he doesn’t know what’s going on.
I think they want to frighten them before they kill the prisoners because they enjoy it