THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
A.Plot:
1.What is the story about?What are the main events in the story,and how are they related to each other?
The story is all about the narrator who had been caught in the inquisitor during the persecution of Protestants and heretical Catholics in Spain in the sixteenth century.The story initially began with the unnamed narrator knowing neither where he was. He merely knew that he had been prisoned somewhere in Spain. He then bagan to explore the room where he was, he fore mostly thought the place to be a tomb but later was proven false after the lid of candles. Before the candle was lid he had been struggling eagerly on acquiring the size,perimeter and even shape of the room and failed into various sleep.Some main events in the story are during his sentences to death and his escape from the pendulum. They are related to each other as one end of the plot laid the placement to the next plot.
2.Are the main events of the story arranged chronologically, or are they arranged in another way?
No the main events of the story are not arranged chronologically. They are arranged such that in there was paragraph where he narrated the situations before he comes up a pre-occurred situation
3.How is the story narrated?Are flashbacks,summaries,stories within the story used?
The story are told in the flashback. There were many flashbacks being recalled in the short story. Summaries,flashbacks,stories.
4.Is the plot fast paced or slow paced?
The plot paced at a very slow rate as the narrator distinctively mentioned every surroundings in the room where he was. He vividly describe the story greatly into detail that even induced people's imagination into the story plots.
5.How do the thoughts,behaviours, and actions of characters move the plot forward?
The thoughts of the narrator had driven himself into indulgence of exploring the room where he had been jailed. It even led him to complicated emotions such as suspicions but also presence of hope. His action involved him into knowing the peril in the room or the presence of pit in the room. This kept his awareness alert. His quickness in respond to stimuli helped him out from being jabbed by the scythed pendulum. His character of suspicions kept himself from knowing all he needs to know such as way out from the place.
6.What are the conflicts in the plot?Are they physical,intellectual,moral or emotional?Are they they resolved?How are they resolved?Is the main conflict between good and evill sharply differentiated,or is it more subtle and complex?
The is no foremost conflict in the story.
7.What is the climax of the story and at what point in the story does the climax occur?
The climax of the story was when the narrator regained his consciousness and found himself binded to a wooden board with a pendulum descent towards him with a sharpen edge of scythe at its end. He had to pour the food to the strap that jailed him so that the mice from the pit would tear it apart out of their hunger.He was able to free himself just exactly in time before the pendulum to make any marks on his flesh.
8.Does the plot have unity?Are all the episodes relevant to the toatal meaning or effect of the story?Does each incident grow logicallyout of the preceding incident and lead naturally ot the next?
Yes, the plot have unity. In the beginning of the story the author mostly emphasized on the suspicions and obscureness of the place. He tried to keep us to those feeling which increased as the story continued till it reached the climax. During the first two or three paragraph the story kept the reader attention towards the enigma.Climax takes place almost at the end of the story
9.What use does the story make of chance and coincidence?Are these occurrences initiate,to complicate,or to resolvethe story?How improbable are they?
The story used the chance or coincidence in the story to drive the reader attention more towards the peril of the room where the narrator was.These occurrences complicate the story.There is hardly any body by chance fell down just before he reached an edge of a cliff when nothing was visible to him.
B.SETTING
1.Place:the geographical location of the story-a country or a city, a large city or a small village, indoors or outdoors, or both.
The unnamed narrator had been prisoned in Toledo, an infamous Inquisition prison in Spain.He was jailed in a room which looked very much alike a tomb or a dungeon as he first felt.
2.Time: the period in history, the season of the year the day of the month, and/or the hour of the day in which the events of the story occur.
This story had taken place during
fifteenth and sixteenth century Spain.The narrator in the story was at that time sentenced to death during the time of the Inquisition.
3.Social environment: the location of the characters and events in a particular society and/or a particular social class (lover,middle, or upper class).
The narrator was there during the institution of the Catholic government in fifteenth and sixteenth century Spain that persecuted all Protestants and heretical Catholics. He was either one of the protestants or heretical catholics.
C.CHARACTER
1. Who is/are the main characters in the story?What does the main character look like?
The main character in the story was unnamed and General Lasalle. There is nothing in the story that could refer to his identities but what I can say about his appearances was he must be skinny at the time of long durational imprisonment.
2.Describe the main's character situations. Where does he/she live?Does he/she live alone or with others? What does the main character do for a living, or is he/she dependent on others for support?
The unnamed narrator was being sentenced to death and was locked up in a cell that appeared very much alike a tomb as what ha had initially thought. This occurred during the inquisition of catholic government between 15th and 16th century. He must have been living his entire life since the day he was born in Spain.General Lasalle save our narrator. And save him he does, pulling the narrator back from the very edge of the pit as he's about to fall in. Though it is not mention in the story but I felt that before an inquisition he must had been livings with his family.There is nothing in the story that mention about the occupation of the narrator before his imprisonment. No he did not depend on others for support
3.What are some of the chief characteristics(personality traits) of the character? How are these characteristics revealed in the story? How does the main character interact with other characters? How are these characteristics revealed in the story?How does the main characters interact with other characters?Note the degree of complexity of his/her behavior, thought , and feelings; their appearances, their habits, mannerism, speech, attitudes and values. What is the main character's attitude towards his/her life?Is he/she happy or sad or discontented? Why?
The only characteristics I could obtain as I finished my reading was that the unnamed narrator was a bit unstable and till certain extent I could feel his philosophical thought. They were not clearly reveal in the story but from the description of his acts in the story during trouble time, I could touch his unstableness. The main character in the story narrator and the inquisition(judge) interact with each other with narrator being sentenced a crime by judge. At the end of the story when the narrator came to meet with General Lasalle, He was a bit fascinating, much relieved and alert. He must have felt relieved. The main character attitude towards his life would be disappointment in his unfortunateness , for his failed luck of getting caught up in the jail. He must have felt discontented with his life as they struggling hard later on in the story as fight for his freedom.
4.What sort of conflict is the character facing? How is this conflict revealed?Is it resolved? If so, how?
The main conflict the narrator faced was that he was at an edge of decision where one could lead him to immediate death and another just the same result but with more chances of survival. Conflicted was revealed when the one side of the wall in the cell began to squeeze in. Yes it is resolved at the end of the story later on when General Lasalle saved his life
5.Is any character a developing character? If so, is his change a large or a small one? Is it a plausible range for him? Is he sufficiently motivated? Is the change given sufficient time?
There is neither any character of a developing kind.
D.POINT OF VIEW
1. What point of view does the story use? Is the story told from a first-person perspective, in which the narrator is one of the characters in the story, and refers to himself or herself as "I"? Or is the story told from a third-person perspective, in which the narrator is not one of the characters in the story or may not participate in the events of the story?
The was well written in a first narrations point of views. The narrator referred to himself as "I".
2.What are the advantages of the chosen point of view? Does it furnish any clues as to the purpose of the story?
The advantages of the first person narrations was that it dive people more deeply into the harshness of the situation that the narrator was facing. It highlighted the hope but the despair, a second later, after the flees from the first execution. Yes id does furnish some clues of the story which is the first a despair of a dogma of two equally chances of death.
3.Is the narrator reliable or unreliable? Does he/she have a limited knowledge or understanding of characters and events in the story? Does the narrator know almost everything about one character or every character, including inner thoughts?
The narrator is highly unreliable because of his undone attempt to finish what he was doing. The narrator does have a knowledge about the events going on in the story, he understood that he was being sentenced to death. No the narrator have hardly any informations of the inquisitors who sentenced him.
4.Does the author use point of view primarily to reveal or conceal? Does he ever unfairly withhold important information known to the focal character?
The author have used a point of view to reveal his fear of the situation that is yet going happen. No since he was the only character in the story, being isolated, thus he does not withhold any information known to the focal character.
E.IMAGERY
1.What scenes, moments, descriptive passages, phrases, or words stand out in your reading of the story?
The scenes that kept my eyes staring at the page was when the narrator being striped to a stand where he would be be executed by the falling pendulum. The edge of the pendulum was sharpen. The particular image was greatly graphic to me.
2. Did a particular image make you feel happy, or frightened, or disturbed, or angry? Why?
The particular image make feel a mixture of disturbance and frightened as the I could clearly see the picture as if I was in the situation. And that make me think too, Had I been in the situation, would I possessed enough consciousness to take pour of meals on my striped hand to keep myself alive or not? The story captured all my imagination.
3.Which of your five senses did this image appeal to? What do you associate with this image, and why? What do you think the author wants you to feel about a certain image?
The image appeal mostly to my sensation of sight. I was extremely deepen to the image because it made me as if I was the narrator and was in the situation. The author wanted to feel a fear in the narrator's emotion but at the same courage he took a at the last moment of a life or death decision.
4.How do you think your reactions to the imagery in the story contribute to the overall meaning of the story?
My imagination have converted the story into a thriller one but yet exciting at the same time. There was a glimpse of hope initially in the story the a despair a while later and lastly resolute with surprised rescues.