Imagery In A Sound Of Thunder

One feature that created suspense in the story was time. In the “Tell-Tale Heart”, time often seemed to speed up or slow down. One example of time movely slowly in the passage is: “I moved slowly-- very, very slowly, so I might not disturb the old man’s sleep”. You almost sense the deliberate movements of narrator. In contrast, the phrase: “The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence”, shows that time is advancing quickly; you could almost see the moon vanishing and the narrator’s quick movements. These “time warps” adds suspense, anticipation, and a growing sense of horror to the story and encourages the reader to continue reading.

Think about a piece of gum. Let’s say that you’re done chewing it, so you spit it out on the ground. It’s nothing. Then think about a billion people that do the same thing. Overtime, all those wads of gum suddenly get tossed out and end up in the ocean, and kill about every marine animal you can think of. All of a sudden, you think, and you realize that the one tossed away piece of gum is a big deal, and that it had a large impact on the world. In the short story “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury, Eckels, a hunter, wants to go hunting, except in the past. He goes to Time Safari, Inc., a time travel company, and requests to hunt a dinosaur. He then goes to the past, accompanied by four hunters and confronts the dinosaur. After Eckels chickens out and a long struggle, the dinosaur is defeated. After they return to the present world, Eckels finds out he has killed a butterfly. He asks the official what happened and he then realizes that he has altered the course of history forever. The theme of “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury is that if you’re not careful, small decisions can have very unpredictable outcomes. This can be proven by when Eckels went off of the Path, when Travis explains the rules of the Hunt, and when they reach present time and realize the drastic changes.

Suspense is a detail that many horror writer use to catch the attention of many readers and keep them holding on till the end. Just as W.F. Harvey does when creating suspense in his story August Heat. Mr. Harvey used three methods to create his suspense for his story, foreshadowing, withholding information, and reversal. With these three methods he is able to make the reader feel like, “ We may even hold our breath without realizing it as we read on eagerly to find out how the story ends”(Source 1).

In “There Will Come Soft Rains”, the reader immediately knows that the house will be disrupted when Bradbury says, “Until this day, how well the house had kept its peace”(2). Bradbury foreshadows that the house’s peace will be broken, by using the phrase “until this day”, making the reader anticipate the loss of the house’s serenity. A suspenseful mood is created when Bradbury hints that the house will be bothered, the reader enters a suspenseful mood because they now know that the house will not be peaceful for long. In Bradbury’s other story, “The Pedestrian”, Mead stumbles over an uneven sidewalk where the, “cement was vanishing under flowers and grass”(1). The narrator adds on that, “In ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not once in all that time”(1). Mead has not seen another person on the street because they are all inside their houses watching television rather than spending time with their families. When Bradbury says that the cement is “vanishing under flowers and grass”, it foreshadows that soon this futuristic society will be taken over by nature. Foreshadowing creates an effective story because it reveals the theme that even though people can be overpowered by technology, nature can find a way to come through. Bradbury uses foreshadowing to create suspenseful

“We’re here to give you the severest thrill a real hunter ever asked for. Travelling you back sixty million years to bag the biggest game in all of Time”(Bradbury 224). The thought of travelling back in time just to shoot a prehistoric beast of the Past is just that; a thought. People now can’t even imagine what it would be like to look a ferocious dinosaur in the eyes, but it may happen one day in the Future. Ray Bradbury paints this picture for us in his incredible story about this unbelievable mystery with figurative language and personification. “A Sound of Thunder” follows a big game hunter, Mr. Eckels, through a Time Safari of the Future and how he completely changes the world around him by disregarding the dangers of Time Travel,

In the story “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury, foreshadowing is used multiple times to hint at events to come in the future. The story follows Eckels, who paid to go on a safari to the past to kill the legendary Tyrannosaurus Rex. On many different occasions characters hinted at important events that would take place. These foreshadowing lines include Travis, the safari guide, repeatedly telling the hunters to stay on the path, the man behind the desk telling Eckels that disobeying rules would result in a large fine or government action when he returns, and the conversation about the results of the presidential election.

In the short story A Sound of Thunder Ray Bradbury, many metaphors and similes are used to describe the T. Rex as an evil, giant being, who is impossible to defeat. Of course, towards the end of the story, the giant, evil, green, massive dinosaur is shot, and tree falls upon it for good measure. In the story, Eckels pays a whopping ten thousand dollars to shoot a T. Rex in 60 million years in the past. He is given a safari guide, and they set off to the Jurassic. While they are getting there through the time machine, Travis, the safari guide, tells Eckels about all the rules and precautions, so they don’t change the past. When they finally arrive, there is a metal path laid out in front of them, six inches above the ground, so they don’t contaminate the soil. The group starts walking to the T. Rex. When Eckels sees the T. Rex, the author stars describing how massive and scary it is. Eckels even gives a hyperbole for how tall the massive creature is. Eckels panics and accidentally steps off the path, killing a butterfly unknowingly. When they get back, Travis is furious for Eckels’ misstep, but Eckels tells him it’s fine. Eckels is horrified to discover that the president that was elected last time, was replaced by a dictator-like person. Travis later kills Eckels because everything is messed up. Ray Bradbury uses the T. Rex to symbolize chaos.

One example is when Sergeant Major Morris is chatting with the Whites, Morris says “If you keep it, don’t blame me for what happens” (Jacobs, 91). This is suspenseful and foreshadowing seeing something bad will happen and a reader does not quite know what. Herbert says after Mr. White makes the wish, “Well I don’t see the money...and I bet I never shall” (Jacobs, 134). This is foreshadowing Herbert’s death. This is suspenseful seeing Herbert says this as a joke, but later in the story when Herbert dies it seems more sinister. Lastly when Morris is telling the Whites about the paw he says the first person who had the paw on their third wish wished for death. This is foreshadowing and suspense seeing how whatever the first person’s two wishes were they had to very consequential if his last wish was for death. These examples state how suspense is created through

Throughout the story Ray Bradbury's imagery involves us in the plot. Our author provides us with “The Machine howled. Time was a film run backward. Suns fled, and ten million moons fled around them.” (73) He makes it seem like we were actually traveling with Eckles to the Mesozoic era. When Eckles encountered the Tyrannosaurus Rex he was astonished by the “...great oiled, resilient, striding legs… [that] towered over thirty feet above half the trees…”(77) The author puts us in Eckles’ position making us see the monster right before our eyes. The major point in the plot was when Eckles contravened the most important rule “Eckles, not looking back, walked blindly to the edge of the path, his gun limp in his arms, stepped off the path, and walked, not knowing it, in the jungle.” (78) The imagery and the details the author contributes helps us perceive the crucial points in plot.

Whatever you do will have an effect in the world. In the story, The Sound of Thunder, by Ray Bradbury, Eckels, the main character, experienced this message in a very violent way. Although Eckels was brave, curious and courageous beyond measure, he is far from admirable because his selfish and impulsive behaviors made him unaware of his surroundings in ways that drastically harm others and the world around him. Eckels is not a good character in this story because of his bad acts. Ray Bradbury is basically expressing a good idea in a more elaborated version of it. He is saying that all actions have consequences. Eckels showed that by not thinking before acting and not trusting his power or instincts.

To begin with, Washington Irving uses imagery to clearly illustrate the story’s development, immersing the reader into what is happening and causing them to feel suspense as they walk through various events together with Ichabod. For example, as Ichabod returns home from the party, Irving portrays his horrifying surroundings, describing Ichabod as a solitary figure in the “dead hush of

In the story “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury, Eckels arrives at Time Safari, the first ever company to take people back in time. Eckels is told they will be going back in time to hunt a tyrannosaurus. Travis his guide and the other men get into the time machine with Eckels. Travis explains how critical all of the rules are and how one small change in the past can change the future drastically. They arrive and find their dinosaur, Eckels gets scared so he runs away falling off the path and killing a butterfly. Travis yells at Eckels and makes him clean up everything. Such as removing bullets from the dinosaur. They arrive in the future and find because of Eckels changing the past, the future has changed all for the worst. Travis is so angry he kills Eckels. In the book one lesson we can find is “One small change can make a big difference.”

In the story “The Pedestrian” the author, Ray Bradbury, uses a great diction and organization to convey the intended tone. Throughout the story Ray uses many words that are packed with emotion to get the desired response from the reader. For example, the author writes “He stood entranced, not unlike a night moth, stunned by the illumination, and then drawn toward it.” This is a great sentence because it uses words like entranced and illumination. The word choice in this sentence really allows the reader to visualize a man on the street transfixed by a light shined at him. The sentence also helps build the suspenseful and at the same time tranquil tone. As a reader we don’t really get the full experience of the tone used in the story until

In the short story “A Sound of Thunder,” by Ray Bradbury, the author makes the story seem alive, with vivid imagery created by figurative language. Figurative language shows throughout the story from the scenes of the T-rex, and the changed surroundings at the end. They spot the T-rex from afar and Eckles studies it “Its mouth gaped, exposing a fence of teeth like daggers,” the word daggers gives the insight of its dangerous looks “And from the great breathing cage of the upper body those two delicate arms dangled out front, arms with hands which might pick up and examine men like toys, while the snake neck coiled.” The description of the T-rex gives us the terrifying and fierce physique of the beast, as if it were here in person. Once they

Then suddenly the creature grew faster than lightning would strike. All of the trees, bushes and homes were destroyed by this creature unbelievable size. Evan finally knew what the beast, he would fly up to Mt. Olympus and demand them to make him into a mighty and powerful god or they would pay the price.