The following question refers to “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe. When the narrator awakes to find himself on his back with no restraints on him, why is he afraid to open his eyes?

The narrator is afraid that opening his eyes will confirm that he is in complete darkness. He says he feared seeing “nothing but blackness,” which would leave him unable to understand where he was or what danger surrounded him. Choice D, fearing that he will see nothing but darkness, matches this fear.

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