Н.А. Мясникова
МАОУ «Гимназия №1
Октябрьского района г. Саратова»
УДК: 82-3
SOUND APPROACH TO TEXT ANALYSIS OF RAY BRADBURY’S
SHORT STORY “A SOUND OF THUNDER”
Статья представляет собой сравнение нескольких подходов к анализу текста рассказа Р.
Брэдбери «И грянул гром». Анализ звуков, прямо и косвенно упомянутых в тексте,
доказывает доминирование природы над машинами, созданными человеком. Звуки
позволяют обогатить традиционную трактовку рассказа-предупреждения об опасности
технического
прогресса.
Ключевые слова: анализ звуковой лексики, человек и природа, текстовый анализ.
The article presents comparison of several approaches to text analysis of R. Bradbury’s short
story “A Sound of Thunder”. The analysis of sounds directly and indirectly mentioned in the text
proves the domination of nature over machines created by man. The sounds help to enrich the
traditional interpretation of the short story warning about dangers of the technical progress.
Key words: sound vocabulary analysis, man and nature, text analysis.
Many years ago people were inseparably connected with nature. They were
practically a part of it. But people had consciousness, which made them different
from animals. Their ability to think resulted in invention of tools and later machines
and devices. People felt to be strong masters of nature and began to use and exploit
it. Nowadays destruction of nature has become the most serious issue. Many
writers concentrated their attention on it, Ray Bradbury is one of them. His short
story “A Sound of Thunder” may be called a masterpiece known all over the world.
That is why this story has been chosen for the text analysis.
This article compares the traditional approach to the text based on its plot and
composition with the new approach inspired by the title of the short story “A Sound
of Thunder”. So the author himself helps to come forth with the following
hypothesis: sounds play a very important role in this short story, so the words
denoting the sounds will help in revealing its main idea. Thus the aim of the article
will be to determine the main idea of Ray Bradbury’s short story “A Sound of
Thunder” on the sound level and compare it with the traditional understanding. To
achieve this aim the following tasks should be fulfilled: to single out and classify
the words denoting sounds and analyze the meaning of the title “A Sound of
Thunder”.
The plot of the story is very simple. It describes a trip from the future to the
past made by means of a time machine. The journey is organized by the company
Time Safari Inc. the aim of the time travelers is to hunt a dinosaur, i.e. to find an
ancient animal and to kill it. The company does everything possible to guarantee
that hunters do not leave any traces in the past: they find the dinosaur which will
die in several minutes in its natural way, they have a special path which does not
touch the ground. The hunters must follow the strict rules. The most important rule
is not to leave the path.
The climax of the story is the moment when a dinosaur Tyrannosaurus Rex
appears from the jungle and Eckels, one of the hunters, is frightened to death. His
fear blocks his mind and he leaves the path wandering across the forest. He does
not understand what he is doing and after the dinosaur is killed by other hunters he
finds himself in the time Machine.
The hunters and the crew come back into the future and see that everything is
changed: spelling of words, the President of the country and people’s minds. The
captain of the Time Machine discovers that Eckels has stepped on a butterfly in the
past and kills him.
The composition of the short story “A Sound of Thunder” is linear: 5
episodes follow each other in the chronological order:
In the office. Preparation for the time safari;
Inside the Time Machine. A talk about dangers of nature destruction;
In the jungle. The hunting during which Eckels frightened by the dinosaur
breaks the safety rules and unconsciously steps on a butterfly;
Inside the Time Machine. Returning back;
In the office. The world is changed because of the butterfly’s death. The
captain of the Time Machine kills Eckels with his automatic gun.
The plot and the composition of the short story give grounds for traditional
interpretation of the main idea of the short story. “A Sound of Thunder” is a
warning to the mankind. The author declares that any human interference into
nature destroys both environment and man himself.
The same idea is expressed by several scientists investigating American
literature. According to E. Staroverova, Bradbury protested against the “consuming
civilization” with its exaggerated role of technology. She also writes that
Bradbury’s novels and short stories of the 1950’s depict the future which reminds
the USA of his time. E. Staroverova calls his works anti-utopian (warning against
dreadful predictions).
Another author studying Bradbury’s works E.Romanova summarizes the idea
of American critics. Bradbury’s science fiction is an alarm signal. His main topic is
care about the future of the civilization.
The third researcher A. Davydova made her conclusion on the basis of
statistics. She singled out the most frequently used words in the short story “A
Sound of Thunder”. They are the words denoting negations, the words referring to
time, the third and the fourth group were “machines” and “destruction”. She writes:
“Ray Bradbury states the fact that the technical progress destroys everything and
the humanity has no time to choose. Bradbury warns people if they don’t
understand it right now, “no time”, they won’t have future at all”. Thus traditionally
the main idea of the short story is warning against human destruction of nature.
Now it is time to apply to the sound approach itself. The short story “A
Sound of Thunder” is filled with different sounds. The readers have an impression
that they are inside all the situations and they hear sounds around them. 153 words
and expressions denoting sounds were singled out. They may be divided into two
groups: words denoting the sounds directly and words denoting the sounds
indirectly.
The first group includes such sounds as birds’ cries and twittering, dinosaur’
shrieks, human speech, humming of wires, sighs and murmurs of the jungle. The
second group consists of the words which name actions and phenomena
presupposing sounds, e.g., swallow, wind, dark forest, guns fired and so on.
Combination of the words from both groups makes the author’s style natural and
true to life. They both create the atmosphere without exaggerated concentration of
sounds. Later no difference between the words from these two groups will be made.
When the meaning of the words is taken into consideration, the
representatives of both groups may be divided into three parts: words referring to
human activity and man (72); words describing nature (48); words referring to
machines (33).
The examples may be displayed in the following table:
MAN
words)
(72 Say(28), tell, talk, ask(2), point, continue, order, whisper(2), pronounce,
command, hiss, curse(2), plead, breath, snort, laugh, cry(5), snap, scream(3),
whistle, moan, swallow, panic, spat, nudged, dropped on his knees, fell, smell the
air, shuffling, -Sh!, -Ah!
Thunder(5), birds’ cries, sounds like music, sounds like flying tents, twittering,
rustling, murmur, sighs(2), exhale, scream(3), roar, shriek, bones cracked,
cracking sound, wind(2), windstorm, feet sank, trees exploded, clutched and
pulled trees, crushing trees and bushes, feet clawing damp earth
MACHINES Hum (wires), Machine works like a gigantic bonfire, shoot (5), roaring, howling,
(33 words)
murmur, riffles jerked (2), riffles cracked, click, shut a door, machine jumped,
guns fired, riffles shift
NATURE
(48 words)
This classification shows that human activity dominates over nature and
machines work. If we sum up the words about humans and machines, they (105
words) practically “swallow” words about nature. In this case man is a winner in his
battle against nature.
However, one more classification may be made if we analyze the meaning of
the words. Some of them refer to human consciousness and mind. They are human
tools which help them create machines and mechanisms. This group of words
includes speech and sounds of weapon and equipment which do not have analogy in
the world of nature. The second group contains words that do have it and may
describe not only nature but also man and machines.
In the following table some examples are given (repeated words are not
included):
Words and expressions without analogy in the Say, tell, talk, ask, point, continue, order,
world of nature (25 words)
whisper, pronounce, command, hiss, curse,
plead, laugh, snap, nudged, -Sh!, -Ah! , shoot,
riffles jerked, riffles cracked, click, riffles shift,
guns fired, shut a door
Words and expressions with analogy in the Breath, snort, cry, scream, whistle, moan,
world of nature (41 words)
swallow, panic, spat, dropped on his knees,
fell, smell the air, shuffling, thunder, birds’
cries, sounds like music, sounds like flying
tents, twittering, rustling, murmur, sighs,
exhale, scream , roar, shriek, bones cracked,
cracking sound, wind, windstorm, feet sank,
trees exploded, clutched and pulled trees,
crushing trees and bushes, feet clawing damp
earth, hum (wires), Machine works like a
gigantic bonfire, roaring, howling, murmur,
machine jumped
The analysis of words denoting sounds brought sensational results. The
vocabulary referring to nature is rich and is widely used in description of machines
and people. There is the impression that on the sound level nature is a winner.
To make the analysis complete, it is necessary to pay attention to the word
combination “A Sound of Thunder”, which is the title of the short story. The title is
connected with the natural phenomenon of a thunderstorm with lightning and very
loud sounds of thunder. The reader knows nothing about the plot but hears mighty
natural noises and feels the power of nature.
This word combination appears in the middle of the text before the dinosaur’s
run. It refers to nature as well and denotes vigor and living force of nature. At this
moment Eckels loses his own control and his behavior is ruled by unconscious
impulses. Nature is stronger than human mind.
“A Sound of Thunder” is the last phrase of the short story. It denotes the
sound of the gun’s shot. It becomes obvious that the captain of the crew killed
Eckels. At first sight, it refers to the human activity with a weapon. But it is only at
first sight. At this moment the captain’s mind does not work, his action is motivated
by his emotions, such as anger, helplessness and feeling of guilt. Animals also have
emotions. So the man behaves without a reason, his reactions and instincts rule him.
Thus he reminds an animal, he is a part of nature.
“A Sound of Thunder” is repeated 3 times in the short story. All of them have
strong positions (title, climax and the final phrase). All of them refer to nature
which takes the leading role in spite of all the human efforts.
To sum up the investigation, it should be mentioned that 153 words denoting
sounds were singled out. Three classifications based on different criteria were
made. The first classification has words denoting the sounds directly and words
denoting the sounds indirectly. The second classification divides the sounds into
three parts: words referring to human activity and man (72), words describing
nature (48), words referring to machines (33). The third classification contains
words which do not have analogy in the world of nature and words that do have it
and may describe not only nature but also man and machines. The last classification
and the title of the short story give grounds for the conclusion that nature is stronger
than people with their machines.
Comparison of the main idea of Bradbury’s short story “A Sound of
Thunder” on the sound level with the traditional understanding shows that they do
not coincide. According to the tradition, man wins, but the sounds prove that nature
cannot be won. Nature includes not only plants and animals, but also people.
Human beings have double nature: mind and something uncontrolled by mind.
People are proud of their mind and its achievements, but their uncontrollable
natural inner essence dominates over mind and consciousness.
It is of vital importance for readers to “hear” the story and think about
mysterious human soul. Its symbol is a butterfly, which plays a very important role
in the Bradbury’s short story.
References:
Ray Bradbury. A Sound of Thunder. М., 2002.
Староверова Е.В., Развинова И.В. Зарубежная литература XX века. Саратов, 1995.
Романова Е. Брэдбери. Писатели США. М.: Радуга, 1990. Стр. 73-74.
Davydova A. Ray Bradbury’s Story “A Sound of Thunder” As a Warning To People.
Саратов, 2007.
5. http://www.raybradbury.com/
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