in the 1st person, but not by the main character, this allows us to form an opinion of
Fettus and the other characters based upon other party’s description and language.
The story opens with four characters in a pub called The George, the four characters
are an undertaker, Fettus (the main character), the narrator who remains unidentified
and the landlord of the George.
Narrator brings us into the story-creating atmosphere. With the four men in the pub
having there normal every night drinks. The tone of the story changes when a man
called Mcfarlane. When the name Mcfarlane is mentioned Fettus who is in a drunken
state becomes instantly sober when he hears the name, this creates suspense because
we know something in the past had happened between the two men Fettus and
Mcfarlane.
When the men come face to face in the pub we realise history between the two men.
But we have no idea what has happened we are left in suspense leaving us with the
question why? What? And when?
Mcfarnlane then brings up the subject of money knowing that fettus isn’t well off.
Mcfarnlane offers Fettus money but Fettus refuses money from him.
Mcfarnlane leaves the pub mysteriously. After Mcfarnlane had left the pub the four
friends returned back to their usual evening drinks. We then learn a bit about
Mcfarlane. But with Fettus unsettled he leaves the pub after three drinks instead of his
usual five, which was very bazaar.
The narrator then tells us how he wormed out the story and then goes into the past and
starts to tell the story.
Fettus back in his youth, studied medicine at Edinburgh University. He was talented,
intelligent and popular. We are taken back to the time Fettus was young.
The story then carries on to tell us about the crime of body snatching and how Fettus
gets involved. After the body snatching is revealed and the wheeling and dealings
what goes on we find out the bodies that are bought on demand for the university are
often murdered. Fettus and Mcfarnlane get involved with the body snatching and later
on get involved with the killing of a man called Gray, which is then sold, to the
university for dissecting. Some time after the death of Gray, the two men Mcfarlane
and Fettus go out one night to get a body from a grave. Once the men had dug up the
grave and bagged the body. They later find the body they had dug up is long dissected
Gray.
The two short stories A Sound of Thunder and The Body Snatcher are very similar in
many different ways even though The Body Snatcher was written in the early 19th
century, which has a genre of realism with a super natural element.
When A Sound of Thunder was written in the late 19th century and has a genre of
science fiction, which is set in the future. A Sound of Thunder is also an adventure
story.
Both stories A Sound of Thunder and The Body Snatcher involve the change of time
through out the stories. The two stories both change time zones.
In A Sound of Thunder a group of five men, Three hunters and two safari leaders
travel back in time, in a time machine to the year of then dinosaurs were alive.
In The Body Snatcher we are told a story were we go back in time to a year in the
main character’s life, were we are told the dark, unpleasant, secretive happenings of
the medical department in a university of Edinburgh. Were Fettus and Macfarlane
studied in there youth.
The two short stories both have the theme of business in them. The two stories both
have the exchange of money some were through out the stories.
In A Sound of Thunder the exchange of money takes place, when the hunters hand
over ten thousand dollars to the safari leaders. This ten thousand dollars allows the
hunters to travel back in time and shoot a dinosaur. In The Body Snatcher the
exchange in money happens in the bringing of bodies for the medical students to
dissect.
All the live characters in The Body Snatcher and A Sound of Thunder are all male.
This maybe because the incidences that take place in the two stories would be more
realistic if male characters did them. Like for instance The Body Snatcher was written
in the early 19th century. Women in the early 19th century were seen as inferior to
men. This meant they weren’t allowed to be involved in any sort of business, or have
an education which involved going to university, with these being the main topics in
the sort story it is expected that the characters would be all male.
All the characters in A Sound of Thunder are male this is because the sort story A
Sound of Thunder was written around the 1950’s, women in the 1950’s were still seen
as less important than men and weren’t seen of having a place in business or going out
hunting. As A Sound of Thunder was written in the future of the year 2055, the author
Ray Bradbury obviously didn’t see women becoming equal to men.
Through out the two stories they both refer back to famous historical people and times
in the past.
A Sound of Thunder refers back to Alexander the Great, Caesar, Napoleon and Adolf
Hitler and the year 1492 when America was discovered. The Body Snatcher refers
back to the gruesome trials that took place in the early 19th century in Scotland, which
were the famous grave robbers William Burke and William Hare.
The stories are also very different in so many different ways. Apart from the genres of
the stories and the years they were written in there are many differences in the stories.
The titles of the stories are different in relation to their story.
The title The Body Snatcher is a literal title, because the story is about body snatchers.
With having a literal title this makes the genre of the story more realistic.
The title A Sound of Thunder is a metaphorical title, the words a sound of thunder
through out the story are used metaphorically like for example the bang of a gun, and
the movement of the tyrannosaurs. With having a metaphorical title it emphasises the
genre of the story which is science fiction giving the story more of a sense of
adventure and mystery, entering the world of unknown going back in time.
The use of language is also very different in the two stories The Body Snatcher is
written in language of the early 19th century. The language in the story The Body
Snatcher is often verbose with the use of words that are now no longer used for
example words like crapulous, ensigns, indemnified, and gig.
The Language is often very poetic through out the story with the uses of metaphors,
similes, euphemism and oxymorons. But the story can also be very literal for example
the title. The Body Snatcher is also very atmospheric, descriptive and detailed. The
Sound of Thunder’s language is of recent. The story is set in America so the language
is American with a few words not being what we English use from day to day. The
currency is in dollars. The Sound of Thunder has very strong imagery, with very
poetic language with the use of metaphors and similes. The Sound of Thunder is very
imagery with graphical details. The story has a certain a pace to it. With the use of
short sentences make the pace fast quick and on the ball all the time.
The ending of the two short stories, The Body Snatcher and A Sound of Thunder, are
both dramatic, the two stories both end with a twist but through out the stories there is
a lot of foreshadowing leading up to an expected ending.
The Sound of Thunder ends with the hunting group and the safari leaders arriving
back at the year 2055 and finding that the world has changed because Eccles stood on
a butterfly and killed it. With the change in atmosphere and human education Travis
the Safari leader unexpectedly shoots Eccles. Ending the story with
“There was a sound of thunder”.
Through out the story there are many lines that foreshadow the ending and the
activities that go on through the story.
The first foreshadowing that occurs in the story that effect the ending is the great
relief the characters show when they talk about president Keith.
“Thank God Keith won” this show great relief and happiness to Keith being
president and how the out come of the presidential elections went well. The characters
then go on to say,
“We’re lucky. If Deutscher had of gotten in, we’d have the worst kind of
dictatorship” when the characters talk about Deutscher, we get the feeling of horror,
The characters are scared of this man and it would be unbearable if he did get
president. To emphasise how tragic life would be if Deutscher did get president
Eccles the main character says to the man behind the desk that people would rather
live in the year 1492 than be under command of Duetscher. This means that Eccles is
saying the people of America would rather go back in time to when America was
found of the year 1492 were there is no technology, education, shops, houses, mobiles
etc. than being under command of Duetscher. The author Ray Bradbury has
emphasized the importance of president Keith being elected. This is because later on
in the story when the death of the butterfly has caused a great change in the way of
life. The population of the changed America had Elected Duetscher the Dictator
instead of Keith, this horrific change in presidents makes the ending more shocking
and exciting for the reader, knowing the new president was who everyone feared in
the old unchanged year 2055.
Also At the beginning of the story. Travis tells the hunters when they arrive in the
jungle that how fatal it is for each of the hunters to look out and watch were they’re
going and placing there feet.
“We don’t want to change the future.”
This is very important. Travis the Safari leader says this because the change in the
future caused by Eccles is the main event that happens at the end. He then explains
how the future could be changed in great detail.
“Say we accidentally kill one mouse here. That means all the future families of this
one particular mouse are destroyed.” as he carries on talking about how the death of
one mouse could effect, for example the foxes that eat the mice, that would then effect
the lions that eat the foxes. The food chain then carries when eventually it gets to the
top, the cave man. Travis then ends his speech with
“So the cave man starves. And the cave man, please note, is not just any
expendable man, no! He is an entire future nation.” This shows the impotency of the
actions of the hunters. The author has once again gone into great deal over at first a
none important piece of information. But later on we find out that its all
foreshadowing and the ending of the story is the change of the future through the
killing of and animal.
At the very end of the story, The Safari leader Travis unexpectedly picks up a rifle
which they had used on the hunting trip and clicks the safety catch and raised the
weapon, the author Ray Bradbury had made a climax building the excitement of
Travis about to shoot Eccles. But when we think Travis is just about to shoot Eccles
with a gory detailed ending like the rest of the story. Instead we are told
“ There was a sound of thunder.”
We assume the sound of thunder is a metaphor for the sound of the gun shooting
Eccles. The author Ray Bradbury had use the words a sound of thunder to make the
reader think and to imagine what happened to Eccles making the story exciting with a
bit of mystery to the story.
The ending of A Sound of Thunder works well with the story with its constant pace of
quickness and fastness and the uses of short sentences keeps the story on the ball all
the time. So when the story ends the activities involved with ending the story keeps
the pace of the story going so we don’t have an anticlimax.
The Body Snatcher like A Sound of Thunder has an unexpected ending but this time
the ending is the super natural appearance of along dissected Gray.
The Body Snatcher uses a lot of foreshadowing and ironic moments, but we don’t
realise it till the story is over.
At the beginning of the story when the four friends are sitting in the pub and the
landlord mentions the name Mcfarnlane we are told Fettus becomes instantly sober,
“As if a man had risen from the dead.” This line is a foreshadowing because it
links into the ending. With the appearance of long dissected Gray.
The use of phrases through out the story, which are used to foreshadow and make
ironic moments for what happens at the end and the beginning of the story.
“No rest for the wicked” This is foreshadowing for what happens at the end of the
story when the dead dissected grey appears in the bag that was meant to contain the
dead farmer’s wife. The phrase
“No rest for the wicked” could also be seen as being ironic because when we are
first introduced to Fettus and he hears the name Mcfarnlane, and finds out the man is
in the village. Fettus is certainly not at rest but he is quite agitated and worried.
The name Fettus could be metaphoric for fetters. Fetters means a shackle for holding
a prisoner by the ankles, Captivity, something restricted, a slave.
The word Fettus might be a corruption of manacles; Because Fettus through out the
story is forced to do things he would rather not get involved with.
He him self is a kind of slave for Mcfarnlane and Mr K.
In the story at one point Fettus is referred back to as “the slave” making the
metaphoric name more convincible.
Through out the story each event that happens is a build up for the Climax at the end.
With the discovery of greys body in the bag, which was meant to contain the dead
farm’s wife.
An example of this build up for the ending is when Fettus is given a body bag
containing a girl he knew called Jane Galbraith. This girl Jane the day before had been
well and happy. Fettus then starts to think that her body had been got unfairly. And
that they must of killed her.
Another build up to the ending of Gray's dead late appearance.
Is when Mcfarnlane, Fettus and Gray were out at lunch when Fettus passes a remark.
“When we dislike a dead friend of ours, we dissect him.”
This is ironic because Gray is then killed and dissected. Making the story exciting
with a mix of horror in it.
I think the end of the story of “The Body Snatcher” keeps the level of horror and
excitement going with out ending with and anticlimax. I think the twist at the end with
appearance of Gray’s body. Fits in just right making a realistic story of the early 19th
century making the story mysterious, strange, scary and unusual. The stories ending I
think will make people once readed the story, will think for a while about the ending and
how it could of happened. The effect of the ending would have had a much greater
impact on the people of the early 19th century when people did go out and snatch
bodies from graves. The story also refers back in time to when two men in Edinburgh
did kill people to supply the universities that studied Medicine. Making The Body
Snatcher a realistic story to believe with crimes that happened at the time.
