The Pit and The Pendulum- Lit. Response

In Malloy’s analysis on The Pit and the Pendulum, she focuses on three main points on the story. The first main point is that Poe uses apocalyptic imagery to establish his narrative framework. A lot of Poe’s symbolism and allusions comes from biblical events or something pertaining to the bible. For example, by General LaSalle coming to save the narrator, LaSalle represented, somewhat, The Second Coming of Christ. The general was viewed as rescuer or sort of like a savior. The second main point was that “…Poe associates the divine in The Pit and the Pendulum not only with infancy, but also more generally with special states of consciousness” (Pg. 88). By falling in and out of consciousness, the reader interprets the narrator’s state of mind and being. The third main point was “the narrator’s consciousness promotes rather than eases his sense of isolation and terror” (Pg. 90). For instance, in the story the narrator tries to realize his true state, but before he thinks about it, he is afraid that he might be deceased. These three main points are heavily argued in the analysis and help prove Malloy’s argument.
Even though, Malloy proves her point very effectively, her analysis does contain some flaws. She tends to inform the audience of how other author’s do things, instead of focusing on Poe’s artistry. A reader can get easily confused on who or what she is trying to explain. If this happens Malloy will lose her audience’s attention and that is never a good thing to do. Malloy should concentrate more on Poe’s writing than the writing of other authors. Overall, Malloy did an excellent job establishing her purpose and proving it.