Maybe the author just wanted to show how cruel humans are on the plant lives. The main themes are obsession, harsh treatment towards plants & wildlife, instability, desire & determination to prove one’s point, and of course, appearance verses reality. For the matter, it’s possible that Klausner just had a heightened sense of hearing. The reader just can’t guess if Klausner was actually making sense or just imagining everything. Then comes our protagonist, Klausner, who’s a confused yet intriguing soul from the beginning. Saunders, appeared rather distant from Klausner. He was the closest man Klausner had as a friend. He is a compassionate, cooperative and considerate man. Scott’s character is the opposite of the protagonist’s. It keeps the reader guessing. However, the main concern of the story has been Klausner’s obsession and instability. From the beginning there’s a constant question whether Klausner was just imagining the sound or he really heard anything. The story is written in third person from an unknown narrator’s point of view. ‘The Sound Machine’ by Ronald Dahl, published in 1949, revolves around Klausner (the protagonist) and his obsession with sounds. The Sound Machine: A Commentary on the Story So, he holds his arm and takes him away from the park. Scott feels that it’s best to take Klausner back home and that Klausner needs a bit of change in his life. The doctor also claims that he hasn’t heard any sound.ĭr. Scott agrees to do that and assures that he would come again the next day to check if the cut has healed. Greatly shaken, Klausner now asks the doctor to put some iodine on the cut of the tree where he has struck it. Klausner’s hope of proving his theory is shattered. But this time, a branch from the tree crashes down and destroys the machine. Klausner now swings his axe at the tree to record the sound with his machine and make the Doctor hear it. Scott expresses he can’t hear anything but just a humming noise. Scott arrives, Klausner gives him the headphones and asks him if he can hear anything. He strikes at a tree’s trunk with the axe and again hears a shriek. The next day, Klausner goes to a park, carrying his sound machine and an axe. He also realizes that it was the same with the roses. It seems to be an emotionless note, may be expressing some feeling that humans don’t know. He repeats the process but this time he realizes that it is not the sound of pain, but just a cry, a neutral, stony cry. He pulls out a daisy and hears a faint crying noise. Saunders goes back inside her house, Klausner continues his experiment, this time with the white daisies. He explains to her that plants, being living things, feels agony when hurt or struck at.Īfter Mrs. She does cut another rose and Klausner again hears the same piercing shriek. He goes up to her and requests her to cut another rose. When she cuts off the first yellow rose, Klausner hears in his headphone a frightful noise as if someone is shrieking. She, at that moment, comes out to trim the yellow rose plants in her garden. What if his theory is wrong or even if it proves to be true then what’s next? These are the thoughts circling his mind. One day he takes his machine out into the garden to test his theory. According to him, the plants make painful shrieking noises when they are cut. Klausner wants to hear the sounds made by bats, flies and even plants. At first what appeared to be an innocent wish has now turned into an obsession. ‘The Sound Machine’ by Roald Dahl, published in his collection “The Complete Short Stories” in 1949, is about Klausner and his obsession with sounds.Īccording to the protagonist, Klausner, there are sounds which are inaudible to the human ear and he wants to develop a machine which can record these inaudible sounds.
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