Poe's Stories brief biography of edgar allan poe
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Short Story By Flannery OConnor
| but this source remains a mystery. Even though the narrator can now seethe size of the cell, this outside source now arrives to torment him. He is in the hands of his captors, who are controlling his experience of the cell, and moreover control his mind by drugging him and generating strange effects of the mind so that as readers we are never sure what version of the truth we are getting. The narrator of "Pit and Pendulum" now realizes that while asleep he has been put on a wooden board and strapped down. There is some very aromatic meat beside the board, but no water this time and he is unbearably thirsty. It is now that the prisoner looks above him and sees that on the cell’s ceiling, the figure of Time has been painted, holding a pendulum. Ashe looks closer, he sees that the pendulum is moving, in a slow sweep. Before the narrator was tortured by not being able to see. Now, as he is forced to watch the pendulum descend slowly toward him, swing by swing, the narrator is tortured by being able to see. The narrator’s self control has been removed entirely and he is literally in the hands of the enemy. The narrator of "Pit and Pendulum" is mesmerized by this motion fora minute but then gets distracted by some huge rats that have entered the cell apparently from the well in the center. When he looks back to the ceiling, he is shocked to find that the pendulum has descended. Its weighty metal blade is sharp as a scythe, and he knows that though he has avoided the well-known doom of the pit, he know must face the pendulum. Between the downward motion of the scythe, the awful presence of the pit and the scuttling rats, the narrator lies helpless. By creating the scene in this way, Poe focuses everything on the narrator’s mind, as the only outlet he has left, so we become very intimate with his thoughts as he faces death. The narrator of "Pit and Pendulum" describes the torture of waiting for the pendulum’s slow descent, for days, it seems. One moment, he wishes for it to descend quicker so he can meet his end, the next moment, he struggles to free himself from his restraints. Suddenly, he feels a strange sense of calm, and then the narrator faints again. He wakes paranoid about being watched and sick with hunger, even knowing his impending death. Ashe strains to reach the meat beside his wooden board, a glimmer of hope occurs to him, a fleeting thought of joy. He struggles to capture this thought but finds his mind is useless with fear. The narrative follows the twists and turns of denial and acceptance of impending death. What seems a very unnatural circumstance, produces a very natural human response and it is witnessing the human condition awaiting death that causes horror and impatience for the reader. Poe’s use of the psychological side of horror is very effective in bringing anew level of fear to the Gothic mystery genre. The narrator of "Pit and Pendulum" watches the pendulum swaying back and forth, directly over his heart. He contemplates how the blade would cut through the fabric of his robe, forcing himself to imagine the thrill of feeling the rip. The pendulum keeps coming, down and down, and with each motion, the prisoner’s emotions vary and he laughs and panics alternately in his frenzy. Each time he feels his nerve fightback against death—it is hope that keeps him going. Hope occurs to him again as a half-formed thought. The pendulum is both a weapon and a timekeeper. It is a symbol of the destruction of time, and the threat of death, which is a recurring theme in Poe’s work. As the pendulum swings, the rhythm mimics the incessant beating of the narrator’s heart and forces him to imagine an endpoint when time will stop, when he will die. Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2017 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 45 The rats are ravenous and have already eaten up the portion of meat beside the bed of the narrator of "Pit and Pendulum". Along with the movement of the pendulum, the narrator lets his hand wave over the empty plate and the rats nibble at it. An idea occurs to him. He wipes the oily residue from the meat along the bandages that restrain him. The rats are slow at first but soon hundreds of rats are upon him, eating through the bandages. The scythe is now almost touching his skin but he manages to duck out of its way at the last moment. Download 0.58 Mb. Share with your friends:
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