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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Hyperbole
Explanation and Analysis—The Jungle:
When the hunters first exit the Time Machine and step into the jungle 60 million years ago, the story hyperbolizes the surroundings:
The jungle was high and the jungle was broad and the jungle was the entire world forever and forever.
The physical exaggeration of the jungle strives to separate the reader from both the present and the year 2055, demonstrating the boundless power of the Time Machine. To hyperbolize that "the jungle was the entire world" illustrates the absoluteness of time and the past. What many perceive as science fiction becomes fact in "A Sound of Thunder," where traveling 60 million years into the past is possible. The expansive jungle is not an illusion, but a testament to the reality of time travel and the tangibility of time.
Describing the size of the jungle as expanding in all directions "forever" ties together the concepts of time and space, playing well into the Time Machine's presence in the story. However, using the word "forever" is ironic, since the story takes place in a technologically advanced world where "forever" does not exist. Time travel is merely a leisure activity in the story's world, allowing people like Eckels to alter invariable events. What was once thought of as unchangeable, such as Keith's election, soon becomes malleable.
The hyperbole also ties into the story's paradoxical ending: Emphasizing the grandeur of the world further juxtaposes the irony of something as small as a butterfly causing such widespread damage.
Related Themes:
