In The Sound Machine by Roald Dahl we have the theme of obsession,

instability, fear and dedication. Taken from his The Complete Short Stories
collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator
and after reading the story the reader realises that Dahl may be exploring
the theme of obsession. Klausner spends his entire time with his sound
machine. What first starts out as an innocent experiment that excites
Klausner becomes something which Klausner obsesses over. It is also
interesting that Mrs Saunders is at a loss when it comes to what Klausner
might be doing and if anything she begins to feel afraid. This may be
important as it highlights the distance that exists between Mrs Saunders
and Klausner. Ironically they are next door neighbours but would not be
similar or close when it comes to their lifestyles. Klausner has an unusual
lifestyle in which his life appears to be dedicated to the sound machine. At
no stage in the story does Dahl give the reader an insight into any other
activity that Klausner might participate in. Something which is clearly
unhealthy for an individual. To be so focused on one thing and not allowing
themselves the opportunity to explore other ventures in order to create a
balance in life.
If anything Klausner may be mentally unstable. It is as though he is so
preoccupied with the sound machine that he has no time for either people
or other things. It is also possible that Klausner has a heightened sense of
hearing. This may explain as to why the doctor does not hear the cries from
the tree when Klausner strikes it with an axe for a second time. The fact
that Dahl uses plant life and suggests that plant life has the ability to feel
may be important as Dahl could be placing a symbolic spotlight on
environmental issues. Perhaps Dahl is suggesting that not enough care is
given to the environment. A stance that would not have been common at
the time the story was written (1949). It might also be a case that Dahl is
also highlighting how socially detached from society Klausner is. There is
no mention of Klausner having any friends in the story and the only person
who knows him well is Dr Scott. Someone that Klausner appears to trust.
Though it is noticeable that Dr Scott is somewhat afraid of Klausner while
he is applying the iodine to the tree.
The fact that Dr Scott is applying the iodine on Klausner’s instruction may
also be important. As Klausner is attempting to treat the tree as a human
would be treated. Klausner has attached feeling to the tree based on the
sound he may or may not have heard. The fact that the branch falls on the
sound machine is also interesting as Klausner appears to be associating
the falling of the branch with the tree defending itself. Which in all likelihood
is something that is not realistic. Though for Klausner everything is realistic.
It is as though Klausner’s activities with the sound machine have clouded
his judgement. He may not necessarily be thinking straight such is the
excitement he feels over his discovery of what he hears when he strikes
the tree with an axe. The striking of the tree with an axe is also an irrational
act. Though logical to Klausner. This could be important as Klausner
without knowing it may have lost touch with reality. Which would play on
the theme of instability.
The end of the story is also interesting as it seems to be a case that things
have gotten to be too much for Klausner. Something that is noticeable by
the fact that Dr Scott takes Klausner’s arm while they are walking back to
the house. Symbolically this could suggest that Klausner is being taken into
the care of Dr Scott. That there is a realisation by both men that Klausner
may not be mentally stable. The reader aware tha

The Sound Machine Summary

The Storyline / Plot Summary
‘The Sound Machine’ by Roald Dahl, published in his collection “The
Complete Short Stories” in 1949, is about Klausner and his obsession with
sounds.

According 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. He spends hours developing it. At first what appeared to be
an innocent wish has now turned into an obsession. Klausner wants to hear
the sounds made by bats, flies and even plants. According to him, the plants
make painful shrieking noises when they are cut.

One day he takes his machine out into the garden to test his theory. He is
rather pensive about the outcome. 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.

Mrs. Saunders is his nearest neighbour. She, at that moment, comes out to
trim the yellow rose plants in her garden. When she cuts off the first yellow
rose, Klausner hears in his headphone a frightful noise as if someone is
shrieking. He goes up to her and requests her to cut another rose. She does
cut another rose and Klausner again hears the same piercing shriek. He
explains to her that plants, being living things, feels agony when hurt or struck
at.

After Mrs. Saunders goes back inside her house, Klausner continues his
experiment, this time with the white daisies. He pulls out a daisy and hears a
faint crying noise. 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. It seems to be an
emotionless note, may be expressing some feeling that humans don’t know.
He also realizes that it was the same with the roses.

The next day, Klausner goes to a park, carrying his sound machine and an
axe. He strikes at a tree’s trunk with the axe and again hears a shriek. He
calls Dr. Scott to test his theory. After Dr. Scott arrives, Klausner gives him the
headphones and asks him if he can hear anything. Dr. Scott expresses he
can’t hear anything but just a humming noise.

Klausner now swings his axe at the tree to record the sound with his machine
and make the Doctor hear it. But this time, a branch from the tree crashes
down and destroys the machine. Klausner’s hope of proving his theory is
shattered.

Greatly shaken, Klausner now asks the doctor to put some iodine on the cut of
the tree where he has struck it. Dr. Scott agrees to do that and assures that he
would come again the next day to check if the cut has healed. The doctor also
claims that he hasn’t heard any sound.

Dr. Scott feels that it’s best to take Klausner back home and that Klausner
needs a bit of change in his life. So, he holds his arm and takes him away
from the park.

The Sound Machine: A Commentary on the Story

‘The Sound Machine’ by Ronald Dahl, published in 1949, revolves around
Klausner (the protagonist) and his obsession with sounds.

The story is written in third person from an unknown narrator’s point of view.
The narration is quite intriguing. From the beginning there’s a constant
question whether Klausner was just imagining the sound or he really heard
anything. It keeps the reader guessing. However, the main concern of the
story has been Klausner’s obsession and instability.
The characters are portrayed quite well. Dr. Scott’s character is the opposite
of the protagonist’s. He is a compassionate, cooperative and considerate
man. He was the closest man Klausner had as a friend. The other character,
Mrs. Saunders, appeared rather distant from Klausner. Then comes our
protagonist, Klausner, who’s a confused yet intriguing soul from the beginning.
The reader just can’t guess if Klausner was actually making sense or just
imagining everything. For the matter, it’s possible that Klausner just had a
heightened sense of hearing.

The main themes are; obsession, harsh treatment towards plants & wildlife,
instability, desire & determination to prove one’s point, and of course,
appearance verses reality. Maybe the author just wanted to show how cruel
humans are on the plant lives. The theme of ‘appearance versus reality’ is
explored in two ways: once by tempting the readers to think that there indeed
are sound that we cannot hear, and again towards the end, by a subtle
suggestion that the sounds which Klausner claimed to be listening may
actually be non-existent.

At times the situations are bound to make you think that Klausner was
perhaps unstable; he considered the falling of the branch as the tree trying to
defend itself from his blows. This, we know, isn’t possible because the story
doesn’t have the slightest supernatural or paranormal touch to it.

At the end of the story, when the machine gets broken by the branch,
Klausner is devastated. Dr. Scott had to hold his arm while trying to take him
back home. This perhaps suggests that Klausner had a breakdown at that
point. After all, he had given all his time, energy and dedication to just one
thing and that thing was destroyed in front of his eyes, so obviously it must
have been too much for him.

However, it’s left entirely on the readers to guess and wonder the truth about Klausner’s
theory. That’s the beauty of the story ‘The Sound Machine’.

In The Sound Machine by Roald Dahl we have the theme of obsession, instability,
fear and dedication. Taken from his The Complete Short Stories collection the story
is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story
the reader realises that Dahl may be exploring the theme of obsession. Klausner
spends his entire time with his sound machine. What first starts out as an innocent
experiment that excites Klausner becomes something which Klausner obsesses over.
It is also interesting that Mrs Saunders is at a loss when it comes to what Klausner
might be doing and if anything she begins to feel afraid. This may be important as it
highlights the distance that exists between Mrs Saunders and Klausner. Ironically
they are next door neighbours but would not be similar or close when it comes to
their lifestyles. Klausner has an unusual lifestyle in which his life appears to be
dedicated to the sound machine. At no stage in the story does Dahl give the reader
an insight into any other activity that Klausner might participate in. Something which
is clearly unhealthy for an individual. To be so focused on one thing and not allowing
themselves the opportunity to explore other ventures in order to create a balance in
life.

If anything Klausner may be mentally unstable. It is as though he is so preoccupied

with the sound machine that he has no time for either people or other things. It is
also possible that Klausner has a heightened sense of hearing. This may explain as
to why the doctor does not hear the cries from the tree when Klausner strikes it with
an axe for a second time. The fact that Dahl uses plant life and suggests that plant
life has the ability to feel may be important as Dahl could be placing a symbolic
spotlight on environmental issues. Perhaps Dahl is suggesting that not enough care
is given to the environment. A stance that would not have been common at the time
the story was written (1949). It might also be a case that Dahl is also highlighting
how socially detached from society Klausner is. There is no mention of Klausner
having any friends in the story and the only person who knows him well is Dr Scott.
Someone that Klausner appears to trust. Though it is noticeable that Dr Scott is
somewhat afraid of Klausner while he is applying the iodine to the tree.

The fact that Dr Scott is applying the iodine on Klausner’s instruction may also be
important. As Klausner is attempting to treat the tree as a human would be treated.
Klausner has attached feeling to the tree based on the sound he may or may not
have heard. The fact that the branch falls on the sound machine is also interesting
as Klausner appears to be associating the falling of the branch with the tree
defending itself. Which in all likelihood is something that is not realistic. Though for
Klausner everything is realistic. It is as though Klausner’s activities with the sound
machine have clouded his judgement. He may not necessarily be thinking straight
such is the excitement he feels over his discovery of what he hears when he strikes
the tree with an axe. The striking of the tree with an axe is also an irrational act.
Though logical to Klausner. This could be important as Klausner without knowing it
may have lost touch with reality. Which would play on the theme of instability.

The end of the story is also interesting as it seems to be a case that things have
gotten to be too much for Klausner. Something that is noticeable by the fact that Dr
Scott takes Klausner’s arm while they are walking back to the house. Symbolically
this could suggest that Klausner is being taken into the care of Dr Scott. That there is
a realisation by both men that Klausner may not be mentally stable. The reader
aware that the trigger for Klausner’s breakdown is the fact that he allowed himself to
focus entirely on the one project. Throwing all his energies into it and if anything
shutting himself off from the outside world. What had most likely started off as a pet
project became an obsession to Klausner and fuelled by the excitement he felt he
may have tipped himself over the edge. Perhaps Dahl is suggesting that to succeed
in life an individual needs balance. Something that Klausner did not have. With
Klausner it was all or nothing. He may or may not have succeeded in his actions but
the results are definitely not what Klausner expected. Unfortunately for Klausner he
does not know if he really heard the sounds of the roses been cut or the daisies been
plucked from the ground or the scream of the tree when hit with the axe. Dr Scott
cannot confirm that he heard the sound that Klausner heard. Which leaves the
reader suspecting that Klausner has worked too hard on the sound machine and as a
result had a breakdown.

‘The Sound Machine’ is a popular short story which belongs to the genre of science
fiction. But in tis story Ronald Dahl combines science fiction and environment. On
the surface level it is about an amateur scientist who believes that there are
sounds that are so low-pitched or so high-pitched that human ear can’t hear them.
He is so fascinated by acoustics that he is yearning to test his theory . For this
he had contrived a machine with which he wants to prove that the high frequency
sound vibrations are audible to human ear. Klausner is experimenting on sound
vibrations to study how the plants feel pain when they are cut. With this small
machine he studies the vibrations of the plants as he asks the neighbour Mrs
Saunders to snip the stem of a plant. Later he himself finds the pain and
vibrations as he strikes an axe on a tree. He is sure of his experiments. He tries
to convince his neighbour and then Dr Scott to believe in his theory that plants
feel pain when they are injured or cut. The author wants to suggest through
Klausner that most of us are deaf to the harm we cause to plants around us.

Klausner was an amateur scientist . He invented a sound machine. It was in the

shape of a black box about three feet long. It looked like a child’s coffin. It was
put on a long wooden bench. The top of the box was open . Inside the box there was
a littering and some small tools. In order to test its connections Klausner began
tugging gently at the wires. This fingers moves swiftly and deftly. In front of the
box there were three dials. In order to watch the movement of the mechanism in the
box, the dials had to be twiddled. With the help of this machine one could hear
sounds which were either low-pitched or high pitched. When the earphone is
connected to this machine one can hear low sharp sounds at low internals.

‘The Sound Machine’ is a very meaningful story. The writer wants to bring home five
lessons that only very sensitive persons have the hearts and minds to visualize and
feel delicate things like the pain of the plants. In this context we find that Dr Scott
and Mrs Saunders do not have time or the sensibility to feel the agonies of the plants
or even creatures that are killed for fun or experiment. Klausner is so much pricked
by the pain of the trees that he asks Dr Scott to stitch the gash of the tree and paint
iodine on it. The does this only to oblige Klausner. Neither Dr Scott or Mrs Saunders
believe in the strange theory of Klausner. In fact they are not so sensitive to the
environment around them that Klausner is. Both of them represent the worldly
people who care little for the plant life. The writer draws our attention, in a very
interesting manner, to the harm that we cause to the plants or trees when we cut
them. By making us aware that plants, too, are like us, the writer warns us to respect
plant life to conserve environment. It is high time for all the human beings to listen
to the sound of nature and make all efforts to conserve the environment.

‘The Sound Machine’ is the story of an amateur scientist named Klausner. He is

obsessed with sounds and he wants to capture those sounds which are either high
pitched or low pitched. The story is set in Klausner’s laboratory which is located in a
secluded wooden shed at the back of his house. The interior of the shed is an
unpainted room. It has a long wooden bench. On this bench lies a black box about
three feet long. It is actually the sound machine invented by Klausner. The top of the
box is open. In this box, there are wires, batteries and small instruments. The
purpose of Klausner is to capture those high pitched sounds which are inaudible to
human ear. The other place mentioned in the story is his garden at the back of his
house. It is actually the open space, ideal for listening to the sounds . It is here that
Klausner hears the shrieking sound made by the stem of a plant when his neighbour
Mrs Saunders was plucking flowers in the garden. Another place mentioned in the
story is a park where Klausner takes his machine to test its usefulness.

When Dr Scott shows inquisitiveness Klausner explains to him his theory of sounds.
IT is that there are sounds that are so low-pitched or so high-pitched that human ear
can’t hear them. We can’t hear any note having fifteen thousand vibrations a
second. Still there are vibrations higher and higher going to infinity. The same is true
about music. If our ears are turned to listening to so high-pitched sounds in the
audible regions, they will go mad. Dr Scott thinks that such things are not probably.
Klausner, then, tells. Dr. Scott things that he has made a simple instrument to prove
the existence of many odd inaudible sounds. His sound machine can pick up sound
vibrations that are too high pitched for receptions by the human ear. His machine
can convert these sounds to a scale of audible tones. By turning on the machine, as
if a radio, one can listen to sounds which an average ear can’t listen.

Klausner carried his machine to his garden when his neighbour Mrs Saunders was
cutting yellow roses in her garden. When Klausner put on the earphones and turned
on his machines, he heard a loud screaming sound each time a rose was cut. He felt
agitated. He took his machine out. Then he again put on the earphones and turned
on the machine. He swung an axe at the base of a tree. He heard a very harsh, loud
scream. He was now sure that when plants are cut they cry in pain.

Now if we suppose that Klausner’s experiments were a success it would certainly

help promote conservation of environment. People would come to realise that plants
and trees should not be cut down casually. Religious people would never resort to
felling trees. Deforestation would cease resulting in the reduction of global warming.

Though Klausner’s machine is a figment of imagination, yet it reminds us of the

experiments of Jagdish Chander Bose. He proved that plants have life and feel pain.

The Sound Machine is a very meaningful story. It is not difficult to understand the
message of the story. The author wants us to stop being def to plant life, without
which our life is at a great peril. He wants to make us conscious of the conversation
of plants and the need to be sensitive to their pain. Very sensitive person realize this
but they are called crazy or mad by the worldly wise people. Such sensitive persons
can feel the cry of pain experienced by the plants when they are cut or injured.
Klausner is also one such man. He can hear the cry of rose bush when a rose is
snipped from the stem. Dr Scott and Mrs Saunders are not as sensitive as Klausner.
They can’t hear the slightest vibrations. They can’t feel the pain and anguish of the
plants. Like Jagdish Chander Bose who invented crescograph to study and record the
growth of plants, Klausner could have given a new invention to the world if his
machine had not been shattered to pieces by the falling of big branch of tree.

Wishing to make another experiment the next morning, Klausner got an axe, carried
it across the road into the par. Here he swung the axe into the base of the beech
tree. In his earphones he heard a harsh, noteless, low-pitched screaming sound. It
seemed to be the wail of the tree. The axe had sunk into the bark of the tree. There
was a gash in it. Klausner felt sorry for his act.
At once Klausner called Dr Scott. He wanted to show the result of his experiment on
the sound machine. When the Doctor came Klausner was very much excited. He
wanted the doctor to hear with the help of the earphones, what he could hear when
the axe was swung on the tree. The Doctor put on the earphones. Klausner once
again struck the axe on the tree. The Doctor could hear just humming sound and
nothing else. But then the ground shook a bit and a large branch of the tree came
cascading down. It smashed the sound machine into pieces. It was a miraculous
escape for both of them. Perhaps the writer wants to warn us. Human beings are
ignoring the nature’s sound which it gives through natural calamities. If we continue
to ignore the sound of nature and keep on indiscriminately cutting trees, we will
meet the same fate as the sound machine.

Klausner was an amateur scientist. He was obsessed with the sounds -especially with
the sounds – in nature. He wanted to capture all the sounds made by plants, animal
and insects which are not audible to man. He invented a sound machine and tested
it for the first time when a neighbour Mrs Saunders was cutting the stems of rose
plants. When he put on the earphones and turned on the machine he could hear
strange shrieking sounds. He felt that the stems were in pain. He narrated his
experience to Mrs Saunders but unconvinced she went inside her house.

The next day, early in the morning Klausner, carried out an experiment. He put on
the earphone, turned on the machine and hit the trunk of the tree with an axe. He
heard a scream. He felt sorry for his act. Then he called Dr Scott and repeated the
same experiment but the Doctor could not hear any cries. In fact the pain of the tree
did not matter to him when Klausner hit the tree for the second time a large branch
fell and destroyed the machine.

We think that human beings are ignoring the nature’s sounds. Nature gives out a
number of sounds through natural calamities. It is warning to man. The smashing of
sound machine is only symbolic. It could be any disaster that nature can inflict upon
humans if treated cruelly. Thus if we ignore the sounds of nature and keep on cutting
the trees indiscriminately we will meet the same fate as the sound machine.

The title of the story ‘The Sound Machine’ is quite appropriate. The whole story is
about the idea that we can hear even inaudible sounds with the help of a machine.
Klausner, an amateur scientist is obsessed with sounds. He believes that there are
sounds, low pitched or high-pitched that a human ear cannot hear. But with the help
of a mechanical device these sound vibrations or notes can be made audible to the
human ear. He has made an instrument which can prove the existence of sounds.
This is a sound machine. When one puts on earphones and the machine in turned on
he can hear even the sounds of cries of pain when the base of a trunk is hit with an
axe. Klausner tries to convince Dr. Scott and his neighbour Mrs Saunders, but he
fails. In the meantime a large branch of the tree falls and the machine gets
destroyed.

Thus, we see the sound machine remains in focus throughout the story. So the title
is quite apt and suggestive.

Klausner is the protagonist in the story. He is an amateur scientist who is fond of

sounds. He is weak, pale and agitated type of person. He seems to be a crazy fellow.
His large head, with his hat on, is generally kept inclined toward his left shoulder as
though his neck were not quite strong enough to support it rigidly. His face is smooth
and pale, almost white, and the pale grey eyes that blink and peer and behind a pair
of steel spectacles are bewildered, unfocussed, remote. He looks like a moth of man,
dreamy and distracted. While working on his machine, he gets excited and
animated. He keeps on gently scratching the lobe of his ear while explaining some
point to his friend Dr Scott. In fact, he is taken to be a fantastic, peculiar person by
both the Doctor and Mrs Saunders.

Whether Klausner is eccentric or not is a debatable question. He may be fantastic

but his concerns are real. He wants others to realize that our attitude towards plant
life is harmful. Plants too have life like human beings. They too feel pain if they are
hit. They cry with pain when they are brutally cut. In fact Klausner is concerned with
conservation of environment and deforestation.

‘The Sound Machine’ deals subtly with the theme of nature. Klausner is an amateur
scientist. He believes that there is a sphere of sounds inaudible to humans that is so
powerful it would drive people mad to hear it. According to him, there are some
sounds that are so high-pitched or low-pitched that human ear can’t hear them. In
order to test his theory he has devised a complicated machine . He takes into
confidence his doctor (Doctor Scott) about his theory and his machine. The doctor
feels that he is not in his senses. He does not seem to believe what he says.

He explains his theory to Mrs Saunders but she too thinks that Klausner is a peculiar
man and she goes inside. But Klausner being a sensitive man can feel the cry of the
plants. Mrs Saunders and Dr. Scott can’t hear any sound but Klausner hears it three
times. It is suggestive of the apathetic attitude most of the people have towards
nature. Klausner after hitting the trunk of the tree with an axe feels sorry for his
action and apologies to the tree. This shows his concern for nature. He tries to press
the edges of the gash to close the wound. He invites Dr. Scott to show him the
experiment. He imagines what sort of a noise would be created if five hundred wheat
plants were to be cut simultaneously. When the doctor comes Klausner asks him to
hear the sound but he is not able to hear any sound. Klausner then gives another
blow at the trunk of the tree. Before the doctor leaves he asks the doctor to stitch
the wound and apply iodine.

Thus through Klausner’s concern for nature the writer wants to remind us that we
should not cut plants recklessly. We must hear the nature’s sound. It is giving us a
warning. If we continue to cut trees indiscriminately we will meet the fate of the
sound machine. Plants too have life. They feel the pain we should not inflict pain on
them. Otherwise nature will punish us

‘The Sound Machine’ is a story about the obsession of an amateur scientist named
Klausner. Klausner’s belief is that there is a sphere of sound inaudible to humans
that is so powerful it would drive people mad to hear it. According to him, there are
some sounds that are so high-pitched or low-pitched that human ear can’t hear
them. In order to test his theory he has devised a complicated machine. He takes
into confidence his doctor (Doctor Scott) about his theory and his machine. The
doctor feels that he is not in his senses. He does not seem to believe what he says.

Klausner takes his machine into the garden. He sees Mrs Saunders, her neighbours,
cutting yellow roses across the lawn in her garden. He puts on the earphones and
turns the knob of his machine. Suddenly he hears a frightful shriek – he has already
heard it in his room. He hears twice or thrice the same sound. Then he suddenly
realises that it has a connection with Mrs Saunders’ cutting the roses. He requests
Mrs Saunders to cut another rose stem with her clippers while he has put on the
earphones. Mrs Saunders considers the request with suspicion by obliges him. Once
again he hears a frightful, throatless shriek. He seems to be reassured that a
rosebush feels pain when its stem is cut.

The next morning he takes his machine across the road into the park. He puts on the
earphones and stats his machine. Then he swings the axe into the base of the tree.
He hears a harsh, noteless, screaming sound. There appears a gash into the
woodflesh of the tree. He feels sorry to the tree. Then he calls Doctor Scott and asks
him to put on the earphones and hear the painful sound he has heard. As the doctor
does what he is asked to do, he takes another slice at the tree. As he does it, the
ground shakes a bit and a large branch comes cascading down. He and the doctor
are not hurt but the machine is destroyed. He asks the doctor if he heard any
screaming sound, the doctor denies having heard any sound:

For God’s sake, how could I tell, what with half the tree falling on me and having to
run for my life.

The writer leaves it to readers to decide whether the plants actually gives screams in
pain, when hurt. It is possible that a possessed man like Klausner hears the
screaming sound it has overpowered his mind for long. A man who is possessed of
anything sees what he wants to see and hears what he wants to hear. Of course ,we
cannot brush aside the scientifically proven fact that plants have life, though it is not
certain if they do cry out in pain when they are cut.

Klausner was a sort of scientist. He believed that there are sounds that are so low-
pitched or high-pitched that the human ear cannot hear them. We cannot hear any
note having fifteen thousand vibrations a second. Still there are vibrations higher
and higher going to infinity. The same is true of music. If our ears are tuned to
listening to so high-pitched sounds in the inaudible regions, we will go mad.

This was the theory of sounds in the mind of Klausner. In order to test his theory he
has made a simple machine which looks like a coffin. The machine was so designed
as to pick up the sound vibrations that were too high-pitched for reception by the
human ear, and to convert them to a scale of audible tones. By turning on his
machine, as if on a radio, he would be able to listen to sounds which an average ear
cannot listen.

In order to test his machine, he carried it to his garden. He saw his neighbour, Mrs
Saunders, cutting yellow roses across the lawn in her garden. When he put on the
earphones and turned on his machine, he heard a loud screaming sound each time a
rose was cut. He got agitated. He took his machine out. Then he gain put on the
earphones and turned on the machine. He swung an axe at the base of a tree. He
heard a very harsh, loud scream. He was no sure that when plants were cut they
cried in pain. However, Dr Scott could hear no sound when he used his axe on the
tree again. There appeared a gash, like a wound, into the woodflesh. Klausner made
the doctor put the iodine on it as if the tree were a living human being.

Now if we suppose that Klausner’s experiment were a success, it would certainly

help promote conservation of environment. People would naturally come to realize
that plants and trees should not be felled down casually. Religious people would
never resort to cutting trees. It meant that deforestation would cease, resulting in
the reduction of global warming which is certainly a major problem in our world.

Though Klausner’s machine is a figment of imagination, we should keep in mind the

experiments done by Jadgish Chander Bose in his laboratory in Calcutta (now
Kolkata). He proved through his scientific devices that plants have life and feel pain.
Despite this knowledge, we continue to regard plants as non-living because we don
not hear the painful screams when they are hurt in the manner human beings do in
similar circumstances.

Klausner was a crazy but amateur scientist. He as obsessed with sounds. He himself
told his physician friend Dr. Scott, “I like sound.” He had evolved his theory about
sounds. The theory was that the human ear can’t hear everything. It can hear certain
sounds, whether high-pitched or low-pitched. Such sounds can also be called ‘notes’.
Explaining his theory, he explained to Dr Scott that a human can’t hear any note
having more than fifteen thousand vibrations a second. Likewise such sound
vibrations may go higher and higher to infinity, even beyond the stars. Indeed , there
is a whole world of sound above us all the time that we cannot hear. Similar is the
case with music being created in the inaudible regions. If made to be heard, this
music would drive us mad.

Klausner was so much fascinated with his idea of sound that he went crazy to test it
on a complicated machine. It was just a contraption, three feet long, having the
shape of a child’s coffin. It was a black box with a littering of wires and batteries.
With the help of this machine he wanted to study subtle sounds and vibrations. He
made a simple instrument that proved to him the existence of many odd inaudible
sounds. Klausner was so obsessed with it that he would sit for hours and watch the
needle of his instrument recording the presence of sound vibrations in the air when
he himself could hear nothing. He wished to listen to all those sounds as his machine
was so designed to pick up sound vibrations that are too high-pitched for reception
by the human ear. He wanted to convert these vibrations to a scale of audible tone
by tuning it like a radio.

Taking his device into the garden, Klausner put on earphones over his head and tried
to listen to any specific sound around him. At once he could hear a cracking sound
produced as his neighbours Mrs Saunders was clipping the stem of a rosebush. He
called out to her to repeat her act of snipping the stem once again. As she did it,
Klausner heard a frightful, throatless shriek in his earphones. He took it to be the
plant’s cry of pain. Later next morning he experimented on a beech tree by swinging
his axe on it. Once again he heard a similar throatless cry. He felt sorry to the trees.
He at once called Dr Scott to prove his theory. In Dr Scott’s presence, he swung the
axe again and asked the Doctor  to tell him what he listened. But then the tree
shook , a big branch of the tree came falling on the device, shattering it to pieces.
The Doctor and Klausner had just a narrow escape. Perhaps nature did not want any
more harm to be done to the tree.

We human beings are indifferent to all species other than homo sapiens. We are
least careful towards animals, birds, insects and plants. We have been considering
all these existing for the service of mankind. We have been slaughtering them for
our needs over the millennia. This is particularly true of plants. We are literally deaf
to the harm we are causing to the plant life around us.

Klausner is considered as crazy because he is harping on something which does not

interest those for whom plants are as good as dead. He is an amateur scientist and is
obsessed with his theory of sounds. He makes a machine in order to test his theory.
At first he uses it in his garden and finds that it registers sounds which are emitted
when his neighbour Mrs Saunders cuts rose stems in her garden. He tries explaining
this to her but she flees in fear.

The next day the ‘possessed’ scientist takes his machine outside in a park. He axes a
tree and hears a similar cry. He quickly telephones Dr Scott whom he has already
told about his theory and his machine. He wants to make sure that his machine
really works. Dr Scott is made to put on the earphones. The machine is turned on.
Klausner uses his axe on the tree again. The ground shakes and a large branch falls
down and destroys the machine – possibly the tree’s revenge for hurting it again.
When Klausner asks the doctor if he heard the scream, he says: I don’t know …… I
don’t know what I heard. Probably the noise of the branch breaking.

Thus, like Mrs Saunders Dr Scott, too, proves to be deaf to the pain of the plants
when hurt. Both dismiss Klausner as a crazy fellow. In a way, the writer indicts all
those who pay no attention to the fact that plants have life. Klausner may be ‘crazy’
but he wants others to realize that our attitude towards plant life is harmful. This
becomes clear the way he forces the Doctor to put iodine on the gash in the
woodflesh of the tree. The Doctor obliges Klausner but behaves as if he were in the
clutches of a mad man. The healing touch which Klausner administer to the
‘wounded’ tree is symbolic. All of us should realize that when we cut a tree we are
harming it like a human being. Its hurt is sure to hurt mankind in the long run.

Thus, the story conveys the idea of conservation of environment and deforestation in
an interesting ‘crazy’ way.