1.
part a: which of the following statements best expresses a major theme of the text?

a
there is no greater fear than that of death and nothingness.
b
intolerance based on religious differences can lead to great suffering.
c
fear can give people hope and motivate them to overcome impossible obstacles.
d
how people perceive the world around them affects how they act in it.

2.
part b: which of the following quotes best supports the answer to part a?

a
“i saw clearly the doom which had been prepared for me, and congratulated myself upon the timely accident by which i had escaped.” (paragraph 12)
b
“the figures of fiends in aspects of menace, with skeleton forms, and other more really fearful images, overspread and disfigured the walls.” (paragraph 16)
c
“with the particles of the oily and spicy viand which now remained, i thoroughly rubbed the bandage wherever i could reach it” (paragraph 31)
d
“oh! horror! — oh! any horror but this! with a shriek, i rushed from the margin, and buried my face in my hands — weeping bitterly.” (paragraph 36)

3.
how does the sentencing at the beginning of the story affect the narrator?

a
the narrator becomes faint and drifts in and out of consciousness from the shock, not quite sure what is real and what is not.
b
the narrator becomes furious and is drugged in order to remove him from the sentencing chamber.
c
the narrator becomes faint and starts hallucinating, preferring his own delusions to the awareness of his fate.
d
the narrator becomes instantly depressed and does nothing to resist his captors, longing for his death and an end to his misery.

4.
which of the following best describes how the narrator’s point of view impacts the text?

a
the first-person point of view makes the narrator unreliable and less trustworthy, especially since the torments he describes are historically inaccurate.
b
the first-person point of view limits the narrative to what the narrator knows and senses, thus heightening the elements of fear and suspense.
c
the limited second-person point of view places the reader alongside the narrator in the tale of horror, thus heightening the elements of fear and suspense.
d
the limited third-person point of view allows the narrator to describe settings and events at a distance, while also retaining the subjective and emotional memory of his torture.

5.
part a: what does the word “voracity” most likely mean, as used in paragraph 31?

a
greed
b
hunger
c
enthusiasm
d
cruelty

6.
part b: which of the following phrases best supports the answer to part a?

a
“their red eyes glaring upon me as if they waited but for motionlessness” (paragraph 30)
b
“‘to what food… have they been accustomed in the well? ’” (paragraph 30)
c
“they had all but a small remnant of the contents of the dish.” (paragraph 31)
d
“they shrank alarmedly back; many sought the well.” (paragraph 32)

7.
part a: how does the author’s description of the pendulum build suspense in the passage?

a
the author describes the slow descent of the pendulum, creating suspense by showing how little chance the narrator has of escape from its steady, mechanical path.
b
the author describes the slow, rhythmic swing of the pendulum, which resembles the pendulum of a clock, suggesting the one fate that no one can escape is time.
c
the author describes the swift swing of the pendulum as it descends, creating suspense by forcing the narrator to hurriedly look for a means of escape.
d
the author describes the pendulum as razor sharp and extremely large, creating suspense by implying that the narrator’s death will be gruesome but quick.

8.
part b: which of the following quotes best supports the answer to part a?

a
“in lieu of a scythe, he the pictured image of a huge pendulum such as we see on antique clocks.” (paragraph 18)
b
“like a razor also, it seemed massy and heavy, tapering from the edge into a solid and broad structure above.” (paragraph 20)
c
“the sweep of the pendulum had increased in extent by nearly a yard. as a natural consequence, its velocity was also much greater.” (paragraph 20)
d
“inch by inch — line by line — with a descent only appreciable at intervals that seemed ages — down and still down it came! ” (paragraph 22)

9.
how is the description, or details, of the cell important to the development of the story’s theme? consider how the setting impacts the story’s meaning.

10.
how does the conclusion of the story impact its overall meaning? reference evidence from the text in your answer.

the pit and the pendulum