To what extent does Ray Bradbury allow us to feel a mixture of horror and sympathy towards the T-rex?

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To what extent does Ray Bradbury allow us to feel a mixture of horror and sympathy towards the T-rex?

   “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.

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   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 ...

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