Critical Response Essay- Nethergrave and a Sound of Thunder

Charis Walker Mrs. Brown

English 9

12/17/13

Critical response essay- “Nethergrave” and “A Sound of Thunder”

“Nethergrave” and “A Sound of Thunder” are both interesting science fiction stories. In my opinion, “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury was the more exciting story compared to

“Nethergrave” by Gloria Skurzynski. “A Sound of Thunder” had me hanging on the edge of my seat, anxious to find out what they might’ve done to alternate the future. “Nethergrave” was more of a slow story, not as exciting.

Both of the authors had an incredible imagination while writing these stories, and in some ways a bit of insight to the future. The way Bradbury described the time machine was, for me, easily imaginable because of how he described it. When Eckels first sees the time machine, “he looks and sees a mass of tangle, a snaking and humming of wires and steel boxes. He also sees an aurora that flickered orange, silver, and blue.” (pg. 288).

In “A Sound of Thunder” you can almost feel Eckels fear when he finally sees the massive T-Rex. He was so excited to get to go back in time and hunt the dinosaurs, but when he actually came face-to-face with one, he wimped out and became overly afraid, almost killing himself and the other guys in the hunting group. The sound of thunder is a great description of the boisterous T-Rex. At the end, the sound of thunder is left to our own interpretation.

“Nethergrave” didn’t seem to have much emphasis on technology. This story wasn’t very interesting to me, and throughout the story, I never felt as though I liked or related to Jeremy’s character. In the beginning of the story, a lot of time was taken up describing Jeremy’s day. It Charis Walker Mrs. Brown

English 9

12/17/13 made it easier to understand Jeremy’s character, an un-athletic, shy teenager who dislikes the world he lives in. He spent almost every afternoon chatting with his online friends, making up lies to them because he feels like a pitiful person. Then a program appears on his screen. The program turns out to be a completely different world, where he was promised to never be alone or hurt.

I’d say the theme for both of the short stories would be “Be careful of the choices you make”. Both of the stories show how technology can change a person’s life, for better or for worse. Technology can be useful, but also destructive.