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Copywork
About This Passage
These three sentences hold the breath before the blast: Poe names the coming 'catastrophe,' renders the first shock through a precise simile ('as if we had been slightly galvanized'), and freezes the islanders in an eerie pause. The passage rewards copying for its parenthetical aside, the galvanic simile, and the way a quiet, suspended moment sharpens the explosion that follows.
We now anticipated a catastrophe, and were not disappointed. First of all there came a smart shock (which we felt as distinctly where we were as if we had been slightly galvanized), but unattended wit...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize this chapter, then explain what Poe most wants the reader to feel as the men watch the Jane destroyed and the islanders flee. What techniques create that effect?
Discussion Questions
- Pym and Peters could fire a pistol to warn the Jane, but they reason a shot would do 'no good' and 'infinite harm,' and they forbear. What is the strongest case against their restraint, and does the chapter ultimately justify it? Use the details of the men's reasoning and the chapter's outcome to weigh both sides.
- Poe lets the islanders fully capture, plunder, and burn the Jane before her powder destroys them. Why might Poe withhold the explosion until the islanders' triumph is complete? Use the chapter's details and the sequence of events to explain what the timing accomplishes.
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Vocabulary
Item 1
Hiding and creeping about, often to avoid being seen or to do harm.
Item 2
A downward slope of ground.
Item 3
Pleasant enough to eat or to accept.
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Critical Thinking
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