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Loneliness In Ray Bradbury's The Fog Horn

1021 Words5 Pages

The Fog Horn is a story about loneliness between two characters, McDunn and a monster. Ray Bradbury is trying to show us the mysteries of the seas. McDunn, who lives in the lighthouse, hears things but does not know what they are. McDunn thinks that there is someone out there but he is not sure if it is a human or it is a creature. McDunn spends all of his days in the lighthouse so he is always by himself. This shows that sense of loneliness found throughout the book. “It's a lonely life, but you're used to it now, aren't you?" asked McDunn. "Yes, I said. You're a good talker, thank the Lord." (Bradbury, 1) McDunn sees something in the waters by the lighthouse but he does not think it is an animal at first. He feels that someone is watching …show more content…

This could be why the monster keeps coming back to the lighthouse at night. “It was a cold night, as I said; the high tower was cold, the light coming and going, and the Fog Horn calling and calling through the raveling mist.” (Bradbury, 2) This could possibly explain why the monster keeps coming back to the lighthouse. It could be that sound that the foghorn makes and the monster could think that it is a mating call. McDunn later on thinks it is a dinosaur of some sort. "It's a dinosaur of some sort! I crouched down, holding to the stair rail.” (Bradbury, 3) This shows that there in fact is a monster and that something is attracting it to the lighthouse. McDunn wants to know why the monster keeps coming to the lighthouse. “The Fog Horn blew. And the monster answered. A cry came across a million years of water and mist. A cry so anguished and alone it shuddered in my head and my body. The monster cried out at the tower. The Fog Horn blew. The monster roared again. The Fog Horn blew. The monster opened its great toothed mouth and the sound that came from it was the sound of the Fog Horn itself. Lonely and vast and far away. The sound of isolation, a viewless sea, a cold night, apartness. That was the sound. "Now," whispered McDunn, "do you know why it comes here?" (Bradbury, 3) This shows why the monster keeps coming back to the lighthouse. Therefore, McDunn now understands why the monster keeps coming back and he also sees …show more content…

Bradbury shows us the unknown mysteries of the sea and how two creatures can live right next to each other and not even know it until a sound that will bring them in contact with each

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