Author: Ray Bradbury
Date of publication: 1978
Type of text: short story
Timeline and setting: The story is set in the official's office; and the author talks about a 60 years war, so in a unbelievable future.
Content: The story, developed through a dialogue between an official and a young sergeant, talks about a very unreal and particular invention. The official summons the sergeant to suggest him a change of war zone. The sergeant says that he can realize a sensational invention that can destroy all materials (steel, copper, brass and aluminum etc) and so able to making weapons rust. When all the guns, the bullets, the tanks and the battleship will be destroyed, the war and all the forms of combat among men will be stopped and prevented. The official wasn't in favor of this invention, because he says that if men can't fight with guns, they will try to kill each others in other ways until they create an atmosphere so full of hate that birds and mosquitoes will die and fall on the ground; he doesn't believe him and suggests he should go to a doctor for a complete check-up. At this point the official's phone rang and he looks for his ball-point pen he realizes it has become a small filtering powder of red rust; so he realize that the sergeant has started his machine. The official orders the guard to stop the sergeant, but everything (every weapon and metal object) has become rust except his chair which is made of wood. So he breaks that, takes a piece of wood and decides to follow the sergeant to kill him.
Aim: The author wants to
tell us that nobody can stop the war and the hate among men, because someone
will not be in favor and he will try to kill every possible change. In this case
the official, takes a piece of wood, the only undestroyed thing and the oldest
weapon, and decides to kill the sergeant who wants to stop the war.
Narrative techniques: Bradbury uses only dialogues for the most part of the story, and narration and description in the last part.
Key words: Rust, steel, the machine, hate, war.
Narrator: He's omniscent
Language: He uses a simple language, easy to understand, full of colours and descriptions. It's colloquial and there are some slang.
Characters: Sergeant is optimistic and idealistic (ln 58-71), (ln 11); the official is pessimistic and realistic (ln 24-29), (ln 133-136), (ln 165-172).
