Summary Of Grace Period By Will Baker

Improved Essays
What would run through one’s mind when they are faced with the devastation of a nuclear blast? In the short story “Grace Period” by Will Baker, a man finds himself in a horrifying situation where a nuclear bomb has been detonated over his town. With the clues left behind, readers can match what is happening with the information in the article “Nuclear Weapon Effects” by John Pike. The article describes how nuclear bombs work and the mass destruction that is created. Having this knowledge, one can explain what was happening in the short story, and it can be predicted what will happen to the man. In “Grace Period” the protagonist notices the indications that a nuclear bomb has been dropped over his town. First, he notices “a few inches above one horizon an invisible jet is drawing a thin white line across the sky” (Baker, 1989, p. 7). Readers can infer that the …show more content…
Having the knowledge from the article, the answer is most likely no. Once the bomb has been dropped, the protagonist looks outside the window “and [he] [sees] that it is growing brighter and brighter and brighter” (Baker, 1989, p. 9). This means that the bomb is getting closer to the man and he has less time. One can predict that the man will be killed by thermal radiation or the shock wave. Nuclear bombs are “able to start fires and do other thermal damage at distances well beyond the radius at which they can topple buildings or overturn armored vehicles” (Pike, 1998, p. 4). The protagonist’s house as well as the whole town, will eventually be blown over until there are only ash and debris remaining. There is also a chance that the man will be affected by the shock wave. The shock wave will cause the ground to shake causing a disturbance of the whole town. When nuclear bombs are detonated, there is a huge mass of destruction created and the man does not have a great percentage of

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