The Pit and Pendulum

The story starts with the narrator on trial and the reason is not told. The narrator falls asleep again and again and the images he sees after awaking are different. The candle appears and then disappears, which diminish the narrator’s hope. Afterwards, he awakes in darkness, finding his way by touching. When he wakes up into light, a razor sharp pendulum is getting closer and closer and there are rats. In addition, the pendulum somehow counts down the time he has left.

Poe describes the feeling of the narrator elaborately, which makes the readers have feeing of virtually being there. In my opinion, the descriptions of the environment and the narrator’s mind build the suspense throughout