Because “The Star” is set in the nineteenth century, there is an obvious difference in the styles of writing used when compared to “A Sound of Thunder”. H.G. Wells concentrates on more of the science side of science fiction and Bradbury on the fiction side. Because of this Wells goes into a lot more details about the mass and velocity of the comet rather than what it looked like to different people.
The best way to demonstrate this is in the opening sections of the stories. A Sound of Thunder starts by saying what can be seen by the character whereas The Star sets the scene by telling the reader the time and what was going on at that moment. As it continues “A Sound of Thunder” carries on the describe the character and help the audience get to know him but “The Star” speaks of the scientific announcement that has just been made and what the announcement means.
This pattern continues throughout the stories, as the comet moves on Wells continues to talk about the science behind it and as Eckels travels back in time Bradbury continues to describe what he sees.
At the time Bradbury wrote “A Sound of Thunder”, in 1957, World War two was still affecting the world so Bradbury uses a president who is peaceful for when the world is good but one who would be quick to wage war for when Eckels makes the world bad. This would be the way most Americans would have been feeling then because of the devastation caused by the World War.
When Wells wrote “The Star” most people would not understand the scientific improbabilities of something like this so they would find it more interesting and it would play on there subconscious more because they would wonder if it could happen. Also in this time period most people who read books will have been rich so the way it is written is more educated so it appeals to them.
In both stories the world is changed. In “The Star” the world changes how it sees things and that worse things can happen and you should look at things from different points of view.
“…how small the vastest of human catastrophes may seem, at a distance of a few million miles”
In “A Sound of Thunder” the world was physically changed as a different president came to power and decided to attack countries and start wars, making the world a worse place.
I preferred “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury because I feel that it gives a better mental picture of what is going on and that is what I look for in a story. I also did not like reading the scientific explanations for everything in “The Star”.