Compare And Contrast A Sound Of Thunder And Nethergrave
“A Sound of Thunder” and “Nethergrave” Critical Essay Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder” beautifully describes the future and had a lot better story plot than Gloria Skurzynsky’s “Nethergrave”, which lacked the edge-of-the-seat action that “A Sound of Thunder” contained. One reason I prefer “A Sound of Thunder” over “Nethergrave” is the concept of time travel. Another reason is that Ray Bradbury has great descriptions and adjectives of what he thought the future would be like. Also, the characterization in “Nethergrave” was not as good as “A Sound of Thunder”. Both stories have great concepts and fit in the category of science fiction. The time travel adventure of Eckels is described flawlessly in “A Sound of Thunder”. When Eckels first
sees the Time Machine, “he looks and sees a mass and tangle, a snaking and humming of wires and steel boxes. He also sees an aurora that flickered orange, silver, and blue. There was a humming sound like a bonfire burning all the years.” The way many parts of this story were described made the story incredible. “Nethergrave” also has a good concept of the future, even though majority of the story went into characterizing Jeremy as a failure in social and physical activities. The idea of a computer program or vortex that allows you to escape the real world and embrace a new life as somebody or something else sounds interesting, but farfetched. Aside from the ending, “Nethergrave” was not really as futuristic as “A Sound of Thunder”, but both stories definitely belong in the science fiction category. Ray Bradbury and Gloria Skurzynsky both included a lot of characterization in their stories. However, I believe the characterization of Travis, Lesperance, and Eckels from “A Sound of Thunder”, is better than the characterization of Jeremy from “Nethergrave”. Ray Bradbury expertly described the personalities of the characters, showing Travis as a person very harsh and concerned about his company, and showing Eckels as a very indecisive but rich hunter. Gloria Skurzynsky describes Jeremy physically and mentally. Unlike Bradbury, Gloria describes Jeremy’s physical features, as a small, skinny boy. She also indirectly describes Jeremy as a computer geek and as a son of a divorced couple, which the dad is a very rich company owner. “Nethergrave” had a lot of direct characterization, while “A Sound of Thunder” has a lot of indirect characterization.
sees the Time Machine, “he looks and sees a mass and tangle, a snaking and humming of wires and steel boxes. He also sees an aurora that flickered orange, silver, and blue. There was a humming sound like a bonfire burning all the years.” The way many parts of this story were described made the story incredible. “Nethergrave” also has a good concept of the future, even though majority of the story went into characterizing Jeremy as a failure in social and physical activities. The idea of a computer program or vortex that allows you to escape the real world and embrace a new life as somebody or something else sounds interesting, but farfetched. Aside from the ending, “Nethergrave” was not really as futuristic as “A Sound of Thunder”, but both stories definitely belong in the science fiction category. Ray Bradbury and Gloria Skurzynsky both included a lot of characterization in their stories. However, I believe the characterization of Travis, Lesperance, and Eckels from “A Sound of Thunder”, is better than the characterization of Jeremy from “Nethergrave”. Ray Bradbury expertly described the personalities of the characters, showing Travis as a person very harsh and concerned about his company, and showing Eckels as a very indecisive but rich hunter. Gloria Skurzynsky describes Jeremy physically and mentally. Unlike Bradbury, Gloria describes Jeremy’s physical features, as a small, skinny boy. She also indirectly describes Jeremy as a computer geek and as a son of a divorced couple, which the dad is a very rich company owner. “Nethergrave” had a lot of direct characterization, while “A Sound of Thunder” has a lot of indirect characterization.