‘A Sound of Thunder’ begins with the main character, Eckels, in the office of Time Safari Inc. The story is being told in the present tense, and the narrator starts by describing the sign in the office, “The sign on the wall seemed to quaver under a film of sliding warm water.” Although the language used is descriptive, it is not very complicated, and is easy to understand. The reader can effortlessly start to visualise the scene that is being described almost immediately. The style of the language is very modern, as the story was not written that long ago. Unusually, the text that is supposedly on the sign is then presented on the page as if it is on a sign, centred and outlined with a black border:
TIME SAFARI INC.
SAFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST.
YOU NAME THE ANIMAL.
WE TAKE YOU THERE.
YOU SHOOT IT.
This is an example of Bradbury’s cinematic style of writing. It catches the readers’ eye even before they have started to read the story, as it looks interesting and unusual on the page. The sign is used to introduce the theme of the story, as it makes it obvious that this is going to be about time travel and one of these hunting safaris. This means the main plot can then start straight away, as the reader is already aware of what is happening. It cuts down on the amount of explanation and description needed of the setting and circumstances, which could become boring. It helps build excitement right from the start.
The beginning of this story is quite dramatic as right away suspense begins to build. The obvious nervousness of Eckels conveys tension to the reader. When Eckels asks, “Does this safari guarantee I come back alive?” this hints to the reader that something is likely to go wrong later in the story, as there is so much risk apparently involved in the safari that the official says, “We guarantee nothing.”
The second story, “The Man Who Could Work Miracles”, begins by looking back at events that have already happened in the past, “It is doubtful whether the gift was innate…”. From the start, the language is much more complex and harder to understand, as it was written around half a century before ‘A Sound of Thunder’. Within the first three sentences it is already outlined almost exactly what is to happen in the story, basically telling the reader that this character, who is not yet named, acquires “miraculous powers” and can thereafter work miracles. At the time this story was written there was a lot of uncertainty about the future, as people were frightened about what would happen when the new century came. It is likely that because of this H. G. Wells tries to reassure the reader by making it obvious early on in his story that the outcome will be good. If the narrator is talking about events in the past, it must mean that what ever happened in the story was not catastrophic because he is still there to tell the tale. He briefly tells the reader what is to happen in the main part of the story so there are not really any surprises later on.
This is similar to the 'A Sound of Thunder' as we are also given some hints as to what may happen in the story at the beginning, but it is also very different to ‘A Sound of Thunder’ as it does not start with the same tense atmosphere and with as much excitement. The mood of ‘The Man Who Could Work Miracles’ is much calmer and more laid back than 'A Sound of Thunder' at the start. Another difference is when the actual ‘story’ starts to be told. In 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles', it is told right from the very beginning, with Fotheringay sitting in the pub. The reader can follow the entire plot through easily like this, with tension and suspense being built up gradually throughout, rather than the reader being introduced later, as in 'A Sound of Thunder' when an atmosphere has already been created. People reading at the time of 'A Sound of Thunder' would be more comfortable to deal with this than if H.G. Wells had started his story in this way. People in his time would be more likely to have been unsettled by this uncertainty.
Another difference between the two stories, immediately and probably most noticeable at the beginning is the way in which they are narrated. 'A Sound of Thunder' is narrated in the third person. It gives the story a somewhat cold feeling, as there is not really a figure you can identify with as the storyteller. The narrator and the action are very much disconnected as it is written as if the narrator is looking over the action from a distance. 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' is narrated in the first person, which gives a much closer feeling to it. The reader can identify the narrator as an actual person and it is as if the narrator is almost part of the action, but not quite – just watching what is happening from very close by. The narrator of this sounds like just an ordinary person that happened to be in the pub at the time when the story began. The effect of this on the reader is that they can imagine the story more clearly, as it is from a point of view. It also helps to make the story more believable for the reader. However, the fact that it is narrated in the first person also means that we are restricted to seeing everything from that person’s point of view. In 'A Sound of Thunder' we get a wider view of events than in 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' as we are not restricted one person’s opinions on events.
The ending of 'A Sound of Thunder' is very dramatic, and is left as a cliff hanger. The characters’ worst fears, of changing time have come true and now their own ‘present’ is different to the way they left it before the safari. On the journey back through time after Eckels has stepped off the path, Travis has threatened to shoot him if anything has been changed. When it becomes obvious that it has, the suspense is immediately intensified. The reader wants to know how Travis will react. The sentences become very quick and short, with lots of punctuation, especially in the last paragraph. “Eckels moaned. He dropped to his knees. He scrabbled at the golden butterfly with shaking fingers. "Can't we," he pleaded to the world, to himself, to the officials, to the Machine, "can't we take it back, can't we make it alive again? Can't we start over? Can't we-"” The atmosphere is tense as Eckels, on his knees, begs for his life with Travis. Then Travis lifts his rifle and “there was a sound of thunder”. The reader immediately jumps to the conclusion that Travis has shot Eckels as he threatened, but then when you think about it more you realise it has been left as a cliff hanger. Eckels being shot is not the only possible ending. It is possible that Travis shot himself, so he does not have to live in this new world. We already know a different and unpopular, “anti-everything man… a militarist, anti-Christ, anti-human, anti-intellectual” won the election in comparison to the popular candidate of before, so maybe Travis thinks life will be so awful that he just ends it. Maybe he does not want to live with the guilt of having changed the whole of history. Even though he personally was not the one that stepped off the path, he was still part of it. Another possibility is that the sound of thunder is not a gunshot at all. Perhaps dinosaurs never died out because Eckels stepped on that one butterfly, and the sound of thunder is actually a dinosaur, as this is how the dinosaur was introduced earlier, “Suddenly it all ceased, as if someone had shut a door. Silence. A sound of thunder. Out of the mist, one hundred yards away, came Tyrannosaurus Rex.” This ending is good as it leaves the reader thinking about all the possibilities, and allows them to make up their own mind how the story actually does end. Because you keep thinking about this, you remember the story, but also remember the moral contained in it – not to play with the forces of nature, as you never know what may happen. The uncertain ending also helps reinforce not knowing what will happen if you change nature, as you never do find out what really happens. The moral in this story is portrayed in a particularly strong way with this ending, as you realise the whole of history has been changed and can never be changed back to how it was before. The people that have travelled through time have to live with their mistake forever.
The ending to 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' is exactly the same as the beginning, as the story is a pantoum in prose. At the end of the story, Fotheringay works a particularly large miracle, commanding the Earth to stop rotating, without properly thinking through the consequences of his actions. The Earth does stop rotating, but everything on its surface does not and all life on earth is destroyed. Fotheringay then realises the enormity of what he has done as he is left all alone in the scene of destruction, and wills everything to go back to how it was before and for him to loose his powers. The story ends as it began with Fotheringay sitting in the pub arguing that miracles need to be willed and cannot just happen by themselves. This ending does seem quite weak, as if the author could not think a good ending, but H.G. Wells ended it like this because of the public fear of change, uncertainty of the future, and dislike of strange things at the time he was writing. This ending is clean cut, and provides a definite explanation of what happens to the characters. Nobody is hurt or killed as everything just goes back to how it was before. This is very different to the ending of 'A Sound of Thunder' as it is much more certain what happens. In 'A Sound of Thunder' the reader is unsure of what becomes of the world, history, or the characters. Does Travis shoot Eckels, or maybe himself? And has the world changed more substantially than they first realise? This sort of ending would probably have frightened people at the time H.G. Wells was writing so it is better that his ending is less dramatic.
Although the ending to 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' seems unexciting and probably less interesting than 'A Sound of Thunder', it still manages to get the same message across to the reader – not to play around with things in nature that you don’t understand. 'A Sound of Thunder' uses the fear of the unknown somewhat to get the message through to the reader, and also partly the shock factor, showing the enormous amount of damage the time travellers have done. But 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' uses Fotheringay as an example to people of what could happen, like in classic stories such as ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’. The message is given more like a ‘friendly warning’ to the reader than in 'A Sound of Thunder' which presents its moral in a way comparable to modern warnings against smoking or taking illegal drugs.
There are also many similarities and differences in the main body of the stories as well as the beginnings and endings. One is the confidence of the main characters in the stories. In 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' Fotheringay starts off very unconfident in his power, but gradually becomes more confident as the story progresses. This is shown in the way his miracles become bigger and more influential throughout the story, as well as increasing in frequency. He started off performing small miracles such as willing a match to appear, “ ‘Let there be a match in that hand,’ he said. He felt some light object fall across his palm…” and changing the colour of a glass of water, “…and turned a glass of water pink and then green…” but soon his miracles get much larger, like sending Mr. Winch first to hell, and then to San Francisco, “…‘Go to Hades! Go, now’ He was alone! …struck by a happy thought he transferred the constable to San Francisco”. Eventually his self confidence becomes so great that he decides to stop the world, his biggest miracle, “ ‘Jest stop rotating, will you?’”
In the other story however, we see the main character Eckels becoming less and less confident as the story goes on. At the beginning, although obviously nervous, he is still quite secure in himself. He is willing to pay ten thousand dollars even after the official says they, “guarantee nothing” and is still interested in the safari after comments like, “Those dinosaurs are hungry”, and being told “six safari leaders were killed last year”. Once they are actually in the time machine going back through time Eckels starts to become more nervous, “Eckels swayed on the padded seat, his face pale, his jaw stiff. He felt the trembling in his arms and he looked down and found his hands tight on the new rifle.” After leaving the machine Travis tells Eckels of all the possible consequences changing the past will have on the future, which unsettles Eckels. This as well as being told there is no way to know if he will get out alive makes Eckels loose even more confidence.
Once Eckels has actually seen the size of the Tyrannosaurus he completely looses any self-assurance he had, that he would be able to kill the dinosaur, “It can’t be killed”. He is paralysed by fear, “Eckels seemed to be numb. He looked at his feet as if trying to make them move.” By the end of the story, Eckels has been reduced to a man begging on his knees to Travis, with no confidence at all. He just closes his eyes and waits for his fate, “He did not move. Eyes shut, he waited, shivering.”
A similarity between the stories is that both characters make mistakes that change the world for everybody and their reasons for doing it are selfish in both cases. In 'A Sound of Thunder' we never find out exactly how much Eckels has changed the world, although we do know a different person becomes president. Keith is president before the safari, “Anyway, Keith’s President now.” But when they return his opposition Deutscher is in power, “You know damn well. Deutscher, of course!” Eckels’ mistake also changes the way the things are spelt, “Time Safari Inc.” becomes “Tyme Sefari Inc.” These are only quite minor changes but there may have been other, much larger changes that the characters do not know about.
In 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' there is one obvious change to the world that affects everybody. Fotheringay stopping the world destroys all life as well as all the man made structures, “Far and wide nothing was visible in the white glare through the haze of dust that drove before a screaming gale but tumbled masses of earth and heaps of inchoate ruins, no trees, no houses, not familiar shapes, only a wilderness of disorder…”
Although the characters in both stories have changed the world, there is also the difference that in 'A Sound of Thunder' the change in permanent. Whereas in 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles', Fotheringay has the opportunity to reverse the miracle, and change everything back to normal.
Also in both stories, the main characters are trying to prove something to the people around them. One is trying to prove himself, and the other, his beliefs. Eckels is using the safari through time to prove that he is a great hunter. By shooting the “most incredible monster in history” he will truly prove that he is one of the best hunters in the world. The man behind the desk in the office says Time Safari is there to “give you the severest thrill a real hunter ever asked for”. By going on the safari, Eckels not only proves that he is a “real hunter” but also that he is the best there is. Fotheringay on the other hand is trying to prove his beliefs. He strongly believes that miracles cannot just happen by themselves, and somebody must will them. He clearly defines what he believes a miracle to be, “Let us clearly understand what a miracle is. It's something contrariwise to the course of nature done by power of Will, something what couldn't happen without being specially willed.” And is then trying to argue his point persuasively with the use of the lamp. The way that Mr. Beamish’s responses annoy him so much shows how much he really believes in what he is arguing “ “So you say” said Mr. Beamish, repulsing him.”
In 'A Sound of Thunder' despite his best efforts, the Eckels fails to prove what he set out to. When Eckels panics and steps off the path, he is showing that he cannot truly be a great hunter if he is afraid of his prey. Fotheringay however manages to prove his beliefs are correct, even if only to himself and Maydig, not the people he set out to convince. Although he himself performs the miracle of willing the lamp to burn upside down in front of the very people he does not manage to convince them as they think he just played a clever trick on them.
The authors of these two short stories have chosen quite different ways to begin and end their works, but both methods have been effective and particularly suitable to the target audience in the time they were written. Ray Bradbury has chosen to start with little introduction, but vivid descriptions ad also the presentation on the page to get the readers’ interest. He uses a third person’s view to allow the reader to watch over the action from all angles and imagine the things he describes easily. He has chosen a dramatic ending, with a cliffhanger – leaving the readers to make up their own mind about what really happens. He gives the reader the power to almost decide the ending for him, which makes them remember the story and think about its morals.
H.G. Wells has chosen a different approach. He begins with quite a long introduction to the story, gently drawing the reader into the action. He adds many details to keep the readers interest and stimulate the imagination. Wells then chooses to make the story a pantoum in prose, repeating the beginning of the action as the end of the story.
In my opinion, I think the beginning and ending of 'A Sound of Thunder' is more effective than 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles'. They provide more excitement for the reader initially, but they are also more memorable after they have been read. 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' just seems too much like the ending you would typically associate with a child’s story, and would probably have seen many times before, or maybe even used yourself. This means it is less interesting, and definitely not as memorable as 'A Sound of Thunder'. There is another reason also however why 'A Sound of Thunder' may seem to be ‘better’ in ways than 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles', and that is the time it was written in. 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' is over 100 years old written for people of a time when many things we take for granted or see as normal today did not exist or could not be done. The storyline may seem tame in 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' because it lacks these things we expect in life today. 'A Sound of Thunder' was written not so long ago, when many of the things that were absent in the time of H.G. Wells were starting to develop. This story is written for people living life much more like people today and so its target audience is more for modern people. Therefore as it is more suited to people like us, it is more interesting for us than 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles’, which is written for people living in outdated ways no longer seen.
