The Pit and the Pendulum | Topics for Discussion
1. The story never explains why the central character has been thrown into the pit. Why does Poe not inform the reader of his crime?
2. There are many details in the story which suggest the state of sleep, such as references to dreams and occasions when the character himself falls asleep. How is it possible to think of this story as a fictional account of a nightmare?
3. The primary dilemma of the narrator is that he is caught between the seemingly bottomless pit and the slowly descending pendulum. What do these two horrors represent?
4. What kinds of methods...
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