A Sound Of Thunder Literary Devices

In the decade of the 1950’s, Ray Bradbury’s short story “A Sound of Thunder” was published. The story takes place in the year 2055; it narrates the story a man, Eckels, who is in search for adventure, the adventure to travel in time to the dinosaur era, to catch the biggest game ever, a dinosaur. To successfully return back to his time of year, Eckels must follow certain instructions that if not followed correctly, can cause catastrophe and change to his present time. Americans, during the 1950's, felt optimism for the future, and anxiety for the many changes they were experiencing in the present moment; Bradbury's story reflects both of these emotions towards Americans in this time period. Bradbury's representation of the future was incorrect,

Bradbury story reflects this emotion, from the beginning, we see the possibility of a time machine, we are introduced to a new president one that will be good for America, and also to the loosing candidate who would have run a Dictatorship. There were also negative changes, which caused anxiety for americans, America feared that communism, coming from the soviet union, could damage their society from both inside and outside. “Congress held 84 hearings designed to put an end to “un-American activities” in the federal government, in universities and public schools and even in Hollywood…Tens of thousands of Americans lost their jobs, as well as their families and friends, in the anti-communist “Red Scare” of the 1950s.” This time period was known as the Cold War. Bradbury was able to captive these feelings in his short story, Eckels was told that following specific instructions was very important, a change in the past, could change everything in the future, even the tiniest mistake can cause a catastrophe. Eckels returns to the present time and notices that the way everything is written is different, and realizes that he has killed a butterfly. With this mistake