Refer to Explorations in Literature for a complete version of this story. “The Pit and the Pendulum” is told by a first-person n
arrator. How does Poe's decision to use this point of view affect the story? A It increases the surprise when the narrator is rescued. B It makes the motives of the judges more mysterious. C Because it only shows the narrator's version of events, it makes the reader sympathetic to him. D It makes a more detailed description of the narrator's surroundings, such as the rats, possible.
Poe's decision to use the first-person point of view affect the story because it only shows the narrator's version of events, it makes the reader sympathetic to him.
The correct option is C.
The story begins with the narrator getting sentenced to death. The story takes to the time during the Spanish Inquisition when the result of the death sentence was the most horrible and terrifying. The setting of the story and the characters are described in the terms of being pale, scary, torturous, painful and horrifying. The description of the pendulum which is described as an instrument of death gives a Gothic experience to the readers. The story begins with the letter “I” which marks the narration of the story being told through the first-person point of view.
