1. Written By: Ray Bradbury Story Adapted From: A Sense of Belonging
A Sound of Thunder
Written By:
Ray Bradbury
Story Adapted From:
A Sense of Belonging

2. Basic Gist of the story
Five Men: Eckels, Travis, Billings, Kramer, Lesperance
Travel back in time to hunt for Dinosaurs
Eckels accidentally steps on a butterfly
All five men return to the future only to learn that everything has changed

3. Writing technique 1: techniques to portray mood and atmosphere
The author makes use of descriptive words and phrases to portray mood and atmosphere, so as to draw attention from the reader and allow the reader to feel as though he/she is present in the story, hence experience the emotions from the characters in the story.
Such a technique is applied in the following paragraphs: “They sat in the ancient wilderness. Far birds’ cries blew on a wind, and the smell of tar and an old salt sea, moist grasses, and flowers the colour of blood.” to describe and portray the atmosphere of the ancient times they were in and “Eckels, not looking back, walked blindly to the edge of the Path, his gun limp in his arms, stepped off the Path, and walked, not knowing it, in the jungle. His feet sank into the green moss. His legs moved him, and left him alone and remote from the events behind.” to describe the fear Eckels felt after he had approached the Dinosaur and how he was trying to avoid it.

4. Writing technique 2: skillful use of dialogue to reveal character
The author uses dialogue as it serves several key functions in the story: It reveals the characters’ personalities and beliefs, heightens tension, provides an alternative to lengthy descriptive passages and, most importantly, advances the plot. Furthermore, it captures the essence of a real conversation by getting to the point quickly.
The dialogue expressed in the following: “ ‘My God!’ Eckels twitched his mouth. ‘It could reach up and grab the moon.’ ‘Sh!’ Travis jerked angrily. ‘He hasn’t seen us yet.’ ‘It can’t be killed.’ Eckels pronounced his verdict quickly, as if there could be no argument.”
The above paragraph shows the character of Eckels being a timid man as he was shocked upon encountering the dinosaur, and immediately wanted to escape from it, and a narrow-minded man as he immediately decided that it was impossible to the kill the dinosaur, and did not even want to try to kill it as he had thought that the action could not be done.

5. Writing technique 3: twist at the end of the story
A twist is a moment of revelation within a story that throws into question all that’s gone before. Often appearing at the conclusion of a story, it’s essentially a specific type of action or ‘beat’. It is a common practice in narration used to keep the interest of an audience, usually surprising them with a revelation.
The author uses the technique near the end of the story, at “ Eckels felt himself fall into a chair. He fumbled crazily at the thick slime on his boots. He held up a clod of dirt, trembling. ‘No, it can’t be. Not a little thing like that. No!’ Embedded in the mud, glistening in green and gold and black, was a butterfly, very beautiful, and very dead.”
In the story, the author first makes us believe that the five men had returned safely after the hunt. Yet, the author reveals that Eckels, one of the five men, had stepped on a butterfly from the period that they were in, causing a huge change in the present. The use of a twist in the manner above surprises the audience. Therefore, the sudden change in emotion of the audience would cause them to feel more interested and attracted to the story, hence making the story much more interesting.

6. Writing technique 4: use of five senses for description
Descriptive writing is like a download from the character’s imagination into the reader’s. To describe an experience or a scene in writing requires the author to imagine that he are there, so that he can tell someone else all about it in enough detail to make the reader feel as though he or she is there, too. To successfully describe things in writing, the author has to unleash the information-gathering power of his five senses.
Some examples are the sentences “Sounds like music and sounds like flying tents filled the sky, and those were pterodactyls soaring with cavernous grey wings, gigantic bats out of delirium and a night fever.” which uses the sense of hearing, and the sentence “Far birds’ cries blew on a wind, and the smell of tar and an old salt sea, moist grasses, and the flowers the colour of blood.” which uses the sense of smell, hearing, and sight to describe the location they were in.
With the help of senses, people are then able to put themselves in the shoes of the characters, feeling as though that he/she is also back in time like the character, hence receiving more emotions and interest in the story.

7. Writing technique 5: use of irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or event characterized by an incongruity, or contrast, between what the expectations of a situation are and what is really the case, with a third element, that defines that what is really the case is ironic because of the situation that led to it.
The author applies irony to the context when the characters had approached the dinosaur. Before encountering the tiger, the sentence “ Eckels flushed. ‘Where’s our Tyrannosaurus?’ ” and “ ‘So they’re dead,’ said Eckels. ‘So what?’’ shows the eagerness and arrogance of Eckels, feeling excited and telling us that he had wanted to kill the dinosaur. However, upon encountering the dinosaur, the sentences “ ‘We were fools to come. This is impossible.’ said Eckels” and “ ‘I didn’t realise it would be this big,’ said Eckels. ‘I miscalculated, that’s all. And now I want out.’ ” shows the fear that Eckels had felt when he had seen the dinosaur. The irony is that even though at the start of the story, Eckels was the most excited to hunt down and kill a dinosaur, upon encountering the dinosaur, Eckels was the most afraid and wanted to back out.
Therefore, irony helps a story when it increases the focus on the difference between the way things could/should be, and the way they are. Irony forces the reader to notice the difference more clearly.

8. Summary
In the story “A Sound of Thunder”, the author uses many writing techniques to increase the readers interest in the story. However, the 5 main writing techniques are:
Techniques to portray mood and atmosphere
Skilful use of dialogue to reveal character
Twist at the end of the story
Use of five senses for description
Use of irony
With this writing techniques/literary devices, the author is able to improve on his story in such a way that the reader is able to:
Draw attention from the reader and allow the reader to feel as though he/she is present in the story
Reveals the characters’ personalities and beliefs, heightens tension
Cause the reader to feel more interested and attracted to the story
Make the reader get a feel of the location where the characters are in, allowing more imagination to take place
Forces the reader to notice the difference more clearly