ISC The Sound Machine : Aptness of the Title

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Echoes

The Sound Machine : Aptness of the Title


Question: How appropriate is the title” The Sound Machine ” for the story by Roald Dahl.


Answer: The title of the story written by Roald Dahl “The Sound Machine” is quite appropriate, as the entire story revolves around the sound machine created by the protagonist of the story, Klausner.
        In the above title – the use of definite article ‘ The’ signifies the fact that the same author is not referring to any sound machine but the one created by Klausner.

        The real action of the story involves Klausner’s attempts at making a sound machine to capture the sounds which are inaudible to human ears.
        Klausner is obsessed with the sounds of mature, he wanted to hear the sound of a fly, and a bat. For this he worked tirelessly for hours to invent such sound machine.
    The author has given an insight into Klausner’s obsession with sound by depicting his workplace in a secluded wooden shed with a number of wires and batteries.
 ” He picked up a piece of paper that lay beside the box, studied it carefully, out it down, peered inside the box…..then at the paper again, checking each wire. He did this for perhaps an hour.”


         This convulsive behaviour shows his obsession towards sound machine.
      After Klausner invented his sound machine the rest of the story comprised of Klausner’s attempt at proving the effectiveness of the machine in capturing the sounds which human beings can not hear.

        He took his machine in the garden and captured the shrieking sound made by stem of the rose plant when his neighbour, Mrs. Saunders plucked rose flowers from her garden.
 Klausner could notice the pain in the shriek.

           Klausner further  tested his machine in a park by hitting at the trunk of a tree. This time he could hear the “harsh ,noteless, enormous noise, a growling, low – pitched screaming sound…….like a sob.”
Klausner again could find the pain in  the shriek.

     He called Dr. Scott to demonstrate his theory. As Klausner tries to give another blow at the trunk of the tree, a branch falls
 “It fell upon the machine and smashed it into pieces.”


       Klausner forces Dr. Scott to tell if he had heard a sound, which the latter denies.

      Ironically, the sound machine is destroyed by the very sample (the tree), which Klausner used to test the effectiveness of his machine.

       

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