The Meteor

How has John Wyndham attempted to surprise and engage the audience?

      The Meteor is a science-fiction short story, written by John Wyndham. The story has a post apocalyptic context due to the nuclear bombs that were being created- it was the first time that man could picture itself destroying the world. The story starts of when a round “meteor” lands in the orchard of Mr. Fontain’s house. The rounded like object is thought to be a meteor due to its appearance until a sizzling sound is heard. When Mr. Fontain examines it more closely he curiously faints, creating a mysterious atmosphere. Extracts from the Onns journal then reveals that aliens who are in a discovery trip to earth happen to live inside the Globe. The story evolves based on the relationship of aliens and the human race, how each culture interacts with the other one, their similarities and differences. The short story contains innumerous features such as the language and the characterizations the author used for the aliens that make it engage and surprise the audience and on this essay I will analyze and evaluate them fully.

      The powerful descriptive vocabulary used on the short story was certainly a device that contributed immensely on captivating the audience in many ways. I will start of by saying that Wyndham wrote the story from two different narrative perspectives; the one written in 3rd person is viewed from the human perspectives and the other one written in 1st person in a journal format is viewed from the aliens’ perspectives. The journal written in 1st person allows us to associate them with human beings (us) in several ways. A lot of figurative language can be seen throughout the story and these includes metaphors, similes, alliteration and onomatopoeia” It shines like a blue pearl”, is an example of a simile thus creating an unforgettable image in the minds of the audience, “rattled and crash” are examples of onomatopoeia and “Just in time to drown the noise of the breaking...