Comparison Essay: Nethergrave vs. A Sound of Thunder
Where else can you travel though time, visit other planets, escape to a different world, or blast away your enemies with energy cannons—in science fiction of course! Ray Bradbury and Gloria Skurzynski have both mastered the art of science fiction writing. “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury is about a man named Eckles who pays one thousand dollars to travel back to the time of the dinosaurs. His goal is to hunt a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but when the time comes, he becomes afraid and runs away. As he franticly retreats to the time machine, he travels off the path and steps on a butterfly. When they travel back home they find, by killing that one butterfly, the whole future has changed. “Nethergrave” …show more content…
In “A Sound of Thunder”, the type of technology used is time travel. The story states, “The machine howled. Time was a film run backwards.” The idea of traveling back to the time of the dinosaurs engages the reader’s imagination and makes us wonder what else could be possible using this technology. In contrast, “Nethergrave” uses computer technology that transports you into a digital world. The story states, “On Jeremy’s twenty-one inch monitor screen, with its sixteen million colors, a whiling vortex appeared, so three-dimensional he felt like he could dive into it.” The technology used is less effective because the readers never really find out what the technology is. Overall, I felt Bradbury’s descriptive use of technology more …show more content…
In “A Sound of Thunder” Bradbury shows that all life is important, no matter how big or small. Bradbury states, “Not knowing it we kill an important animal, a small bird, a roach, a flower even, thus destroying an important link in a growing species.” Eckles kills only one butterfly, but changes the whole future. By looking at a food web, you can see how all life is connected. By cutting one link, it affects everything. In “Nethergrave”, the message is illustrated in the passage “Stay with us Jeremy. Live forever in Nethergrave. Here no one will ever abandon you, I promise.” Converse to Bradbury’s message, Skurzynski suggests that hiding in a digital world is easier than facing the real one. This message is not as moving as Bradbury’s, because it is something people already face and overcome. Although it is something that people relate to, it is not quite as
Where else can you travel though time, visit other planets, escape to a different world, or blast away your enemies with energy cannons—in science fiction of course! Ray Bradbury and Gloria Skurzynski have both mastered the art of science fiction writing. “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury is about a man named Eckles who pays one thousand dollars to travel back to the time of the dinosaurs. His goal is to hunt a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but when the time comes, he becomes afraid and runs away. As he franticly retreats to the time machine, he travels off the path and steps on a butterfly. When they travel back home they find, by killing that one butterfly, the whole future has changed. “Nethergrave” …show more content…
In “A Sound of Thunder”, the type of technology used is time travel. The story states, “The machine howled. Time was a film run backwards.” The idea of traveling back to the time of the dinosaurs engages the reader’s imagination and makes us wonder what else could be possible using this technology. In contrast, “Nethergrave” uses computer technology that transports you into a digital world. The story states, “On Jeremy’s twenty-one inch monitor screen, with its sixteen million colors, a whiling vortex appeared, so three-dimensional he felt like he could dive into it.” The technology used is less effective because the readers never really find out what the technology is. Overall, I felt Bradbury’s descriptive use of technology more …show more content…
In “A Sound of Thunder” Bradbury shows that all life is important, no matter how big or small. Bradbury states, “Not knowing it we kill an important animal, a small bird, a roach, a flower even, thus destroying an important link in a growing species.” Eckles kills only one butterfly, but changes the whole future. By looking at a food web, you can see how all life is connected. By cutting one link, it affects everything. In “Nethergrave”, the message is illustrated in the passage “Stay with us Jeremy. Live forever in Nethergrave. Here no one will ever abandon you, I promise.” Converse to Bradbury’s message, Skurzynski suggests that hiding in a digital world is easier than facing the real one. This message is not as moving as Bradbury’s, because it is something people already face and overcome. Although it is something that people relate to, it is not quite as