The Pit and the Pendulum

The story is told from which point of view?

• Third-person-limited view of a member of the French army
• Omniscient view of the author
• Third-person view of the inquisitor
• First-person view of the prisoner

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.4.4

What might explain how the candles seem to change shape from “slender angels” to “meaningless spectres”?

• The candles are magical and can change shape.
• The narrator is hallucinating.
• Inquisitors have changed the candles.
• The candles are imaginary.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

When he comes to after fainting, what does the narrator remember?

• Shadowy figures carrying him to a strange damp place
• His childhood and his parents
• His wife and children back home
• His previous stay in the dungeon

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CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

The narrator is afraid that he will find himself in a tomb because he —

• fears that he will be taken from the tomb and tortured
• fears that he has been buried alive
• has always been afraid of tombs
• suspects the tomb will plunge into a bottomless pit

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

What fate does the narrator think awaits him?

• Starvation
• The torture of his family
• Public execution
• Many months in the dungeon

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CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

When the narrator is sentenced to die, the authorities provide him with food because they —

• feel very sorry for him
• left the food there by mistake
• plan more punishments before he dies
• always feed their prisoners until the end

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

The prisoner frees himself when he —

• 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

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

At the end of the story, the —

• narrator plunges to his death in the pit
• narrator is saved from the pit by a French general
• inquisitors release him because he is really innocent
• prison burns, and in the turmoil the prisoner is able to escape

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

The mood of this story is best described as —

• neutral
• romantic
• terrifying
• confusing

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

The judges at the start of the story were

• his neighbors
• his family members
• trying to help him
• monks

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.4.4