How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Steady on!" I said. "These candles are wanted," speaking with a half-hysterical facetiousness, and scratching away at a match the while for the mantel candlesticks. My hands trembled so much that twice I missed the rough paper of the matchbox. (42)
The narrator is "half-hysterical." He’s talking to himself, and starting to get funny ("facetious") in that odd way one does as one begins to lose it. He’s also having trouble controlling his body: his hands are trembling. Since he needs his hands to cooperate if he’s going to relight those candles, he's not in a good situation.
Quote #8
I was now almost frantic with the horror of the coming darkness, and my self-possession deserted me. (43)
Here we have it: the narrator’s lost control of himself because of his terror. Not only is that cool, rational approach gone, but he can't even control his body. He’s entering a frenzy, in which he’ll act without thinking. This raises an interesting question: when we say the narrator’s "losing control of himself," what exactly do we mean? Can we no longer hold him responsible for what he’s doing? Is he doing it?
Quote #9
…as I thrust the candle between the bars darkness closed upon me like the shutting of an eye, wrapped about me in a stifling embrace, sealed my vision, and crushed the last vestiges of reason from my brain. The candle fell from my hand. I flung out my arms in a vain effort to thrust that ponderous blackness away from me, and, lifting up my voice, screamed with all my might--once, twice, thrice. (45)
"Reason" has left the building at this point. The narrator has completely lost it. This is the moment when his terror is at its worst. He does what people often do in complete terror: he screams. We’ve come a long way from what he said at the beginning of the story, haven’t we.