A Sound of Thunder Summary

Extended Summary
Ray Bradbury
Published in colliers magazine on june 28 1952

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The story A Sound of Thunder, by Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), opens when a man named
Eckels enters the offices of Time Safari, Inc., a company that offers safaris that take hunters to
any time in the past to hunt any animals they wish to shoot. Eckels presents a check for $10,000
to the clerk and asks if the company guarantees that hunters return alive from the past. The clerk
replies that the company guarantees nothing but encounters with dinosaurs. Hunters must strictly
obey their guides, shooting only what and when they are instructed to shoot. Any disobedience
will result in a $10,000 fine plus possible government-imposed penalties.
Eckels contemplates the nearby time machine and remarks that if Keith, the progressive
candidate he favored in yesterdays presidential election, had lost the contest, Eckels might be in
the office now, trying to go to some other time to escape the outcome. The clerk agrees that it
would indeed have been awful if Deutscher, Keiths opponent, had been elected. The two men
quickly return, however, to discussing the opportunity Eckels will have to shoot a Tyrannosaurus
Rex. The clerk warns that if Eckels is attacked and eaten by a dinosaur, the company is not
liable. Six safari guides died last year, along with twelve
hunters. The clerk wants Eckels to be sure that he really wants to make the trip.
Eckels indicates that he does, and so he is introduced to Mr. Travis, the experienced guide who
will lead this safari. Travis and Eckels, carrying rifles, enter the time machine, which is already
occupied by Traviss assistant, Lesperance, and two other hunters (Billings and Kramer). Total
five person The machine kicks into operation and the nights, days, weeks, months, years,
centuries, and millennia whiz by. Leaving A.D. 2055, the men soon arrive in the midst of a
jungle that existed 60,002,055 years before.
As they look out of the time machine, Travis points out a metal path into the jungle. Made of
anti-gravity metal, it hovers half a foot above the ground. It was placed there by the company to
prevent hunters from in any way having physical contact with the jungle. Travis emphatically
instructs them that they are never to leave the path, for any reason. He insists that the men pay

careful attention to this rule and never violate it. They are not to touch anything, and they are not
to shoot at any animals unless Travis approves. When Eckels asks why, Travis elaborately
explains that the company does not want to take any chances by changing anything at all about
the future. Destroying even a flower, an insect, a mouse, or any other living thing could cause
potentially massive unforeseen consequences in the future. This is especially the case since
killing one living thing in the jungle would mean wiping out the potential offspring of that thing,
and thus the offsprings offspring, and so on and on and on for countless generations. The results
of killing anything in the jungle are literally unpredictable, which is one reason that all the men
are wearing oxygen helmetsso as not to introduce any latter-day bacteria into the primeval...
(The entire section is 1264 words.)

sixty million, two thousand and fifty-five years

When Eckels asks why, Travis launches into an explanation of how changing the past could have a
negative effect on the future: If one mouse is killed in the past, the families of that mouse will also no
longer live, compounding until the effect of the death of that one mouse could mean generations of
people may no longer be alive in the present. With
everyone sufficiently scared, they head out.

His story helps us to see the importance of protecting the natural

environment, which is an important issue in today's world.

idea of "the ripple effect," where even the minutest events in the past
can have drastic repercussions for the future. Bradbury's discussion of
the ripple effect forces the reader to consider his or her own place in
the world and their responsibilities for future generations. The reader
must ask the questions, "How are my actions affecting the people who
will come after me? Am I leaving the world a better place for
them?" as he tries to explain the necessity of staying on the
designated path

damon knight , founder of science fiction, although the term science

fiction was not used until about 1930, science fiction, one of the
earliest science fiction writers was Lucian of Samosata who, around
100 bc , wrote a fantasy about a journey to the moon, modern fiction
took proper shape in 19 century
impact of science and technology, sometimes it is real or entirely
imagined.,disaster if science fiction is abused.
who controls the past controls the future George orwell
i.insignificant actions can change the future for an entire generation.
ii.even tiny changes in past can change drastically alter the future.
Deutscher dictatorship disaster
To travel in time, as William balke wrote in auguries of innocence
would be
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour
Paul expressed it time travel is the ultimate fantasy ,the scientific
addition to the human quest for immortality.
Time fantasy has strong appeal, as old saying time is money. Means
it would be wonderful if you could save time just like money.
Butterfly fragility of life, opportunity of freedom that eckles destroyed
embedded in the mud, glistening green and gold and black, was a
butterfly, very beautiful and very dead.
, sound of thunder drastic changes about to occur, the path way of life,
gun symbolize death
Bullets could represent disturbance in the past of any future materials
or biological substance like human air.