T-Rex in Sound of Thunder

“A sound of thunder” is a science-fiction story by Ray Bradbury. It is set in the future at “Time Safaris Inc.”. Time safaris Inc. are a company which allows serious hunters to live their dream: to travel back in time and shoot a live dinosaur. This story focuses on one hunting party’s encounter with a T-rex, during which Bradbury uses various techniques to make us feel both horror and sympathy simultaneously. I will now look in detail at the way Bradbury depicts the T-rex.

Bradbury begins by entering the dinosaur on “great oiled, resilient, striding legs”, which gives the impression of power, of the dinosaur being able to withstand anything. The word “great” helps give an impression of size, and you can really imagine the “oily”, shimmering scales. “Striding” makes you imagine huge, clawed feet gliding over the ground: you can almost picture the immense mass of oily scales and claws. This opening phrase helps to draw tension.

Next we are told how “each leg was a piston”, which is especially effective as a piston is part of a machine, therefore giving us the image of the monster as machine-like. This, once again, gives the impression of how powerful the creature is, as well as making it seem as though, like a machine, the great lizard does not have the ability to feel emotion. This draws a feeling of horror, adding to the tension at the same time.

Bradbury then uses “sheathed over in a gleam of pebbly skin”. This metaphor, if just for a moment, makes the dinosaur sound almost beautiful. The choice of “gleam of pebbly skin”, likes the gleam of water trickling over pebbles on a river bed, makes us feel sympathy for the great creature: how could anyone want to kill something so beautiful and tranquil? However, as soon as the phrase “like the mail of a terrible warrior” is introduced, our image of the dinosaur is changed once again, making him sound powerful, deadly, ready to attack and able to withstand anything that should be stupid enough to attack him once more, Introducing the feeling of horror back into the description.

The adjective “delicate”, which Bradbury chooses to describe the dinosaur’s arms, gives an amazingly different view of the monster. It makes it sound fragile, as though it could be hurt, a contrast to the earlier description which made it sound almost indestructible! This word he has chosen helps us to sympathise with the dinosaur once more.

“The snake neck coiled” is a really effective metaphor as it gives the dinosaur more of a reptile feel, and the decision to compare it with a snake, a feared and sometimes deadly creature, increases tension and makes the monster sound even more deadly, adding to our feeling of horror. The verb “coiled”, is an unusual choice as it is used to describe coils, concentric rings, making it sound as though the dinosaur has layers of fat round it’s neck, encrusted with scales. This stops us feeling so much sympathy for the dinosaur, and makes it sound a bit ugly.

The description of the head as “a ton of sculptured stone, lifted easily upon the sky” is a very effective metaphor as stone is amazingly strong, and can withstand almost any thing, emphasising once again the indestructibility of the dinosaur. Describing it as “a ton” shows us just how heavy it is, and how strong the dinosaur must be to lift it, as well as giving us an impression of the sort of size it must be.. Telling us how it was “lifted easily upon the sky” shows us how the monster lifts his head to the sky with almost no effort, showing how strong he is. At this point you almost admire the great beast, wonder why anyone would want to kill it...

However, Bradley soon snaps us out of this trance by combining a simile and a metaphor to build “a fence of teeth like daggers”, once again alerting you to the fact that this monster is deadly. Comparing the teeth to daggers gives the impression of just how sharp they must be, and really draws the tension. You can just imagine the teeth glinting in the prehistoric sun, like the way a dagger might glint in the sunlight now. This phrase definitely helps reinforce the sense of horror once more.

Bradley soon calms us down, however, with the metaphor “gliding ballet steps”, which he uses to describe the way in which the dinosaur moved. It makes it sound almost graceful, and contrasts the description he has used earlier. The verb “gliding” in particular helps the dinosaur’s new, innocent image. Here, instead of making the dinosaur sound dangerous, evil and machine-like, he makes it sound innocent and dainty, fragile and graceful. It doesn’t sound like the same dinosaur described earlier. This certainly helps you feel sympathy for the dinosaur, knowing it is about to be killed.

“Death grin”, however, soon brings us back to reality. This oxy moron combines grin, which we associate with being happy, with death- something horrifying which most people would choose not to talk about. This gives it an almost sinister feel, and helps to draw both tension and horror.

Next, Bradbury helps us to sympathise with the dinosaur once more, telling us how “it moved into a sunlit arena warily”. This choice of adverb combined with the metaphor makes the dinosaur sound shy, as though it doesn’t want to be in the spotlight, as though, perhaps, it knew it was being watched. It makes it sound as though, maybe, it is a bit scared, nervous- contrasting the earlier description which made us think of the dinosaur as cruel and unfeeling- as though it were scared of what might happen to it if it edged into the light. It really helps you to feel sympathy and perhaps even pity for the dinosaur.

He then describes how the dinosaur’s hands are “beautifully reptile”, once again beautifying the dinosaur and making us wonder why anyone would want to harm it.

To finish his exquisite description, Bradbury tells us how, when the dinosaur exhaled, “the stink of raw flesh blew down the wilderness”. This is a final reminder of how this beast eats meat, and would happily munch up one of us any day. Describing how it “blew down the wilderness” gives a last impression of the immense power within the dinosaur, its breath strong as a wind, blowing back trees and plants. This phrase turns the dinosaur into a terrible monster for one, last time.