Comparing “A Sound Of Thunder” and “The Monkeys Paw”
This essay compares two stories, “A Sound Of Thunder” and “The Monkeys Paw.” Ray Bradbury wrote “A Sound Of Thunder” in 1952, and “The Monkeys Paw” was written in the late 19th century by WW. Jacobs. “A Sound Of Thunder” is set in 2055 and is in the science fiction genre. You can tell this because it is not fictional and is set in the future. It makes us think about future possibilities, and even though it is not true when it is written, there is a possibility that it could happen in the future.
You can tell that “The Monkeys Paw” is set in the future genre because it is made to give you a slight chill down your spine and is about possibilities of things going wrong. It is set in an isolated position, and the weather is bad, giving a tense and isolated feeling. The first contrast which can be seen is at the beginning of each story. The beginning of “The Monkeys Paw” uses very descriptive language such as. Without, the night was cold and wet, the blinds were drawn, and the fire burned brightly. This is the opening line to A Monkeys Paw, whereas the opening paragraph in “A Sound Of Thunder” uses no description and talks about the sign on the wall,
- Time Safari Inc
- Safaris to any year in the past
- You name the animal; we take you there
- You shoot it
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This is a significant contrast between the two stories as one is very descriptive to get the reader to imagine the setting and the other is written to explain to the reader the actual theme of the story. One of the themes the writer is trying to put across is meddling with nature. In “A Sound Of Thunder,” time is changed, and in “The Monkeys Paw,”. The paw is used to do magic which wouldn’t happen otherwise and is done without thinking about the consequences, such as when Mr. White wishes for money, he doesn’t think where or why it will come, and in the end, he faces the consequences.
In “A Sound Of Thunder,” magic wasn’t used to change nature but an unnatural time machine. Even though both ways in which nature is changed are different, you can see a link where they both change the future. Reading both stories, I found that some of the characters in each are dissatisfied with something in their lives and have tried to improve the situation by changing the future for the good. Still, greed has overcome them and has turned around on, giving them unwanted consequences.
I think that greed is a theme throughout both stories, as in “A Sound Of Thunder,” Eckels says, Shooting my dinosaur As to say he owns it, or that he is superior to other hunters that may want to shoot the same species. Also, in “The Monkeys Paw,” Herbert says, ” Well wish for two hundred pounds then, that’ll do it, ” which shows he wants money without earning it. Carelessness is also a theme, which links both stories and the theme of greed. In “A Sound Of Thunder,” Eckels is warned and told to stay on the path, and as a result of not following the rules and being careless, the consequences were shown on the sign at the end,
- Tyme safari Inc
- Safaris to any year en the past
- Yu ram the animal
- Wee take you thair
- Yu shoot it.
Also, in A Monkeys Paw, the family are told to be careful and warned that they must be sensible with “The Monkeys Paw,” but were also careless, so they got their son killed by not being careful enough. In both stories, the characters of the Mother and Eckels are similar because they do not understand the effects of meddling with the universe. In contrast, the person who gives “The Monkeys Paw” to Mr. White, and Mr. White at the end of the story, are similar to each other, and with Travis in “A Sound Of Thunder,” as they all understand the effects of meddling.
In A Monkeys Paw, the family are in a traditional situation, and where there is a death, it is a big loss in the story, as love seems to be a theme as well in this story, whereas, in “A Sound Of Thunder”, the death of Eckels is not grieved, as he is not killed during the story, but at the end, so we can see that he may be not is loved by other characters in the book.
My favourite story was A Monkeys Paw, as it was more built up and less obvious of what was going to happen. IT was in the horror genre, which is also a reason a lot of people would want to read this story, and keeps you hooked to the end. In “A Sound Of Thunder”, it is very predictable of what will happen and it is set in the future, so cannot be pictured as easily for us.