Gaping means “wide open.” why is this word so effective in conveying edwards’s purpose to his audience?

Gaping is related to living things, which makes hell seem like a living creature to the audience.

The word gaping helps build the image of hell as a mouth that will swallow the audience up if they don’t do as Edward says.

The connotation of gaping makes the image more frightening and persuasive.

The definition of gaping is wide open in a general term, but in a more extensive way it refers to the action of BECOMING open,so it is related to the process or action of opening it is also known as the event of opening our mouths when we are surprised, all this is helping him convey his purpose by showing hell as something that is both opening for them in a welcoming and looking forward way, at the same time as it could represent the fauces of hell devouring your soul.

it was given away at no charge

source text: from the sketch here given it will be seen, that our good grandmothers differed considerably in their ideas of a fine figure, from their scantily dressed descendants of the present day. a fine lady, in those times, waddled under more clothes even on a fair summer's day, than would have clad the whole bevy of a modern ball room. nor were they the less admired by the gentlemen in consequence thereof. on the contrary, the greatness of a lover's passion seemed to increase in proportion to the magnitude of its object—and a voluminous damsel, arrayed in a dozen of petticoats, was declared by a low-dutch sonnetteer of the province, to be radiant as a sunflower, and luxuriant as a full blown cabbage. certain it is, that in those days, the heart of a lover could not contain more than one lady at a time; whereas the heart of a modern gallant has often room enough to accommodate half a dozen - - the reason of which i conclude to be, either that the hearts of the gentlemen have grown larger, or the persons of the ladies smaller — this however is a question for physiologists to determine. add punctuation to the following excerpt. writing under the name of diedrich knickerbocker washington irving aimed his potent satire at as diverse topics as political rivals such as thomas jefferson to the very ideal of looking back on the past affectionately: a fine lady, in those times, waddled under more clothes even on a fair summer's day, than would have clad the whole bevy of a modern ball room. a voluminous damsel, arrayed in a dozen of petticoats, was declared by a low-dutch sonnetteer of the province, to be radiant as a sunflower, and luxuriant as a full blown cabbage. in those days, the heart of a lover could not contain more than one lady at a time; whereas the heart of a modern gallant has often room enough to accommodate half a dozen