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Hyperbole
Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Imagery
Explanation and Analysis—The Humming of Wires:
When Eckels first enters the Time Safari, Inc. office, he describes the Time Machine using visual and sonic imagery, which brings the technology to life:
Eckels glanced across the vast office at a mass and tangle, a snaking and humming of wires and steel boxes.
The wires and boxes of the Time Machine snake around each other like serpents and hum like living creatures. Applying imagery to the pieces of the Machine by giving them animal characteristics exemplifies the idea that technology cannot be fully controlled by humans. The Time Machine is a wild beast used by clients who lack a complete understanding of its associated risks. The repercussions of its use are unpredictable at best; thus, its mere existence poses a threat not only to humanity, but also to the Earth in general.
Specifically, by using snakelike imagery for the Time Machine—associating it with a reptile often analogous with wiliness and evil—the narrator underlines its dangerous potential and foreshadows the role it plays in the world's collapse. In "A Sound of Thunder," the hunters are incapable of escaping the Machine's dangers and ensuing consequences. They become victims of the Time Machine, or prey for the snake.
The Time Machine is also reminiscent of 21st-century artificial intelligence, technology that some people fear will cause more harm than good in the world.
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Explanation and Analysis—The Ancient Wilderness:
When the hunting party first arrives in prehistoric times, the story depicts the jungle setting with elevated imagery:
They sat in the ancient wilderness. Far birds’ cries blew on a wind, and the smell of tar and old salt sea, moist grasses, and flowers of the color of blood.
This example of imagery brings several senses to the foreground. The narrator details the sound of the birds, the smell of the air, the feel of the grass, and the color of the flora. The description also transports the reader into the past by characterizing the smells and sounds as "far" and "old," unlike the ones the reader may be accustomed to in the present.
Furthermore, painting the flowers "the color of blood" illustrates the thin line between beauty and horror in this story. The comparison to blood foreshadows the Tyrannosaurus's gruesome end, after which Eckels must retrieve the bullets from its bloody mouth. Mentioning blood at the outset of the journey immediately alerts the reader that the jungle is not what it seems. Even the most beautiful places—or times—on Earth can be deadly, just as the greatest inventions can sow the seeds of one's own destruction. Accordingly, even though the Time Machine is miraculous, it can be catastrophic in the wrong hands.
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Explanation and Analysis—The Monster as Metal:
When Eckels's fear and carelessness triggers the Tyrannosaurus, Mr. Travis and Lesperance must quickly shoot down the Monster themselves. The story brings the Tyrannosaurus attack to life through imagery:
The rifles cracked again. […] The great level of the reptile’s tail swung up, lashed sideways. Trees exploded in clouds of leaf and branch. The Monster twitched its jeweler’s hands down to fondle at the men, to twist them in half […] Its boulder-stone eyes level with the men. They saw themselves mirrored. They fired at the metallic eyelids and the blazing black iris.
This description of the Tyrannosaurus attack uses geologic images, including mentions of rocks, minerals, and metalworking. The verbs are jarring—"rifles cracked" and "trees exploded"—while the adjectives are solid—"jeweler's hands," "boulder-stone eyes," and "metallic eyelids." In comparing the dinosaur to such concrete and harsh objects, the story emphasizes the strength and absoluteness of the Monster. Trying to defeat the Monster is equivalent to shooting a mountain. In a story where something as absolute as time is malleable, geology becomes the next best way to describe the solidity of the Tyrannosaurus.
The metallic descriptions also evoke the physicality of technology in 2055, where inventions such as the Time Machine are possible. In the story's imagined future, technology is tangible, something built out of materials such as metals. The Time Machine is "silver metal" and "roaring light," unlike much of the intangible technology in today's world. Even though the Monster is a paragon of ancient history, it manages to simultaneously represent the progress made in the future.
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