The Pit and the Pendulum creates a theme of suspense. Throughout the story, Poe develops eternal suspense until the execution. The story draws on the human mind's need for information. He does this by giving the reader the perspective of the prisoner, who has no useful knowledge. Furthermore, when the narrator begins to describe his suffering, he is unable to complete his thoughts. A quote from the story:Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay “The agony of suspense finally became intolerable, and I moved forward cautiously, arms outstretched and eyes straining out of their sockets. hoping to catch a faint ray of light. a sharp pendulum swings very slowly towards him, threatening to cut out his heart. This scene took much longer than expected if a pendulum was intending to swing with enough force to kill him, and in doing so caused readers to build up the suspense of impending death. Then, with a thrilling "ending" for our narrator, he has an ingenious idea, saving himself just in time. Leaning all the way, the walls begin to converge painfully toward the pit, all the while pushing our narrator along the way. with that. Readers realize that even though the walls move in slow motion, we all know that in the end he will be pushed towards death, we have a suspenseful hope that he can come up with another idea just in time, forcing the reader to continue . in order to know what is happening. At the very end: “I felt I was on the brink – I looked away.” Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a personalized essay. The end of the paragraph left us all in suspense and left with the need to find out what happened. Throughout the story, Poe manipulates each element to create a sense of suspense..