Critical Essay- Nethergrave, A Sound of Thunder

Critical Essay by. Juda Smith
I think the nether grave is the best story, because it’s very relatable. Majority of kids get bullied and or go through a bad time at least once in their life, so they either find ways to escape it or lie to people about how “good” their life is so nobody knows how bad it actually it. People connect more with things they can relate too. Fact. But, ‘”A Sound of Thunder” is a better story that can be classified as science fiction because it has something to do with time travel, dinosaurs, and history. “A Sound of Thunder” fits into the science fiction category because it’s based on time travel, dinosaurs ruling the Earth, and staying on the correct path so he doesn’t “change the course of history”. Those are all science related things so that’s the science part. It’s fiction because its fact but science related. No one can go back in time or change the course of history that’s where the fiction comes into play. In the story “nether grave” it’s harder to classify it as science fiction, because it’s not like it has something to do with time travel or dinosaurs, but it does have to do with gaming and leaving behind his own life to be a jaguar in a video game life. It does have to with people and how their life effects their life decisions which is science. It’s fiction because people can’t trade in their bad life to be in a video game.
In the story “A Sound of Thunder” he uses sensory imagery, which uses very descriptive words to evoke images of sight, sounds, feelings, touch, and smells. In the first line, the protagonist swallows and they tell us about the “muscles around his mouth” and he waves his hand, while in the background there comes a “sound like a gigantic bonfire.” In the story the nethergrave it was hard to tell you were in another world because of the lack of detail. They didn’t give you a time period too, so there isn’t really to relate to besides the fact that it’s about a boy who uses his computer to hide and lie about his life.
The theme in the story “A sound of thunder” you have to stay on the correct path in life or it will go all wrong. The plans you thought you had will change and everything will be challenging and hard. In the story the “Nether grave”, the theme of the story I believe it is when you feel like your life is bad, don’t go on trying to hide what’s going on. I think the first story has the best theme “A sound of thunder” because it is true. If you don’t stay on the correct paths of life and associate yourself with good people, your life and plans can all change. You can’t have the both of best worlds.