Conflict in A Sound of Thunder and a Nordon excerpt
Conflict Short Essay
“A Sound of Thunder”, by Ray Bradbury, and the Louis Nordon excerpt are similar in that the conflict within the grandfather and Eckles results from their dysfunctional relationships with the other characters.
The conflict between the grandson and the grandfather in the Nordon excerpt is created because they both have different focuses; the grandson wants to lift a weight off his shoulders and the grandfather wants to find a cure for his blindness. The grandfather’s intense focus on curing his blindness causes a wedge to form between him and his grandson. He doesn’t take the time to listen to what his grandson is saying because he doesn’t want to take away time that could be used to help himself. This is shown when the grandfather says, “slobber might work” (paragraph 2). He takes everything that the grandson says and tries to see if it could benefit him. In the grandfather’s eyes, his grandson causes a problem for him because he is not helping to cure his blindness in any way. The longer the grandson is present, the less time he can spend thinking up treatments that may cure his affliction. The grandfather shows this in the exchange that occurs when the grandson makes a comment about what he does on the train, “’Will dancing cure blindness?’ I said, ‘It might.’ He said, ‘Go git me a Co-cola’” (paragraph 2). When the grandson says that it will not help cure the grandfather, he completely loses interest in the topic. In this way he is also very selfish.
Eckles’ internal struggle, trying to prove that he is brave, causes the main conflict in “A Sound of Thunder”. If he did not have this internal issue, he would never have gone on the safari in the first place. The clerk teases and pressures him as he is paying for the journey; the clerk says that the “dinosaurs are hungry” (pg 2 paragraph 3). This comment is made to test Eckles and see if he is too afraid to go on the trip, but Eckles does not want to seem weak so gives in to
“A Sound of Thunder”, by Ray Bradbury, and the Louis Nordon excerpt are similar in that the conflict within the grandfather and Eckles results from their dysfunctional relationships with the other characters.
The conflict between the grandson and the grandfather in the Nordon excerpt is created because they both have different focuses; the grandson wants to lift a weight off his shoulders and the grandfather wants to find a cure for his blindness. The grandfather’s intense focus on curing his blindness causes a wedge to form between him and his grandson. He doesn’t take the time to listen to what his grandson is saying because he doesn’t want to take away time that could be used to help himself. This is shown when the grandfather says, “slobber might work” (paragraph 2). He takes everything that the grandson says and tries to see if it could benefit him. In the grandfather’s eyes, his grandson causes a problem for him because he is not helping to cure his blindness in any way. The longer the grandson is present, the less time he can spend thinking up treatments that may cure his affliction. The grandfather shows this in the exchange that occurs when the grandson makes a comment about what he does on the train, “’Will dancing cure blindness?’ I said, ‘It might.’ He said, ‘Go git me a Co-cola’” (paragraph 2). When the grandson says that it will not help cure the grandfather, he completely loses interest in the topic. In this way he is also very selfish.
Eckles’ internal struggle, trying to prove that he is brave, causes the main conflict in “A Sound of Thunder”. If he did not have this internal issue, he would never have gone on the safari in the first place. The clerk teases and pressures him as he is paying for the journey; the clerk says that the “dinosaurs are hungry” (pg 2 paragraph 3). This comment is made to test Eckles and see if he is too afraid to go on the trip, but Eckles does not want to seem weak so gives in to