The Pit and the Pendulum | Topics for Discussion & Projects

The Pit and the Pendulum Topics for Discussion

These topics concern the general works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Explain what is meant by the term "unreliable narrator." How does Poe use this technique in different ways with different stories?

Poe has been called "the father of the detective story" - but does he go too far out of the realm of possibility by making an orangutan the killer? Defend your answer.

Are the crewmen on the "Discovery" ghosts? Is there another explanation as to why they do not acknowledge the narrator?

How does Poe portray the doppelganger, or character double, in The Fall of the House of Usher?

How does Poe use a closed setting in The Pit and the Pendulum, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Fall of the House of Usher?

What is the role of history in The Pit and the Pendulum? How does the reality of the action contribute to the story's terror?

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