A Sound of Thunder By Ray Bradbury A

“A Sound of Thunder” By Ray Bradbury

“A Sound of Thunder” is a famous science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in 1952. p Bradbury was very interested in the possibilities of science but wanted to make difficult ideas and concepts understandable. As a result, Bradbury wrote a story about an idea commonly discussed in Physics called the Butterfly Effect… p

p p The butterfly effect is a metaphor that summarises the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory; namely that small differences in the conditions of a dynamic system may produce large changes in the long term behaviour of the system. The butterfly effect is a common metaphor in fiction when presenting stories involving time travel and with "what if" scenarios where one storyline changes direction at the moment of a seemingly minor event, resulting in two significantly different outcomes. Got that? No? Let’s read then…

Question Types p p There are normally three question types in English: Understanding – here you are just asked to explain your understanding of what is happening. Analysis – here you are asked to pick out quotations and explain what they tell us about character, setting etc. Evaluation – here you need to give you opinion on how effective a language techniques is. This is often part of an analysis question.

Question Types On the questions you will see a code: p (U) means understanding p (A) means Analyse p (E) means evaluate p p Sometimes there will be more than one code (A/E). This means you must both analyse AND evaluate.

Note Taking for analysis p “The sign burned in this momentary darkness” Word “burned” suggests destruction = so hints at something sinister or malevolent to come. Darkness is “momentary” dark behind eyelids – only dark for a split-second but can still see the sign = suggests it has stuck in character’s mind therefore is important.

1. 2. 3. 4. Section One Examine what kind of atmosphere Bradbury establishes in the opening of P 88. Find evidence to support your opinion. (A) What is the big news in America at the time the story is set and who is involved? (U) What are your first impressions of both Travis and Eckels? Describe them in a paragraph each, with evidence. (U/A) Looking at word choice, how does Bradbury build up the tension at the end of this section? (A)