Determinism In Ray Bradbury's The Sound Of Thunder

My story is based around the theme of time travel and the philosophical concept of determinism. The piece which serves as my inspiration is Ray Bradbury’s The Sound of Thunder. However, in contrast to Bradbury’s story which examines the idea that little things can make a big difference dubbed the “butterfly effect”, I aimed to go in the opposite direction. My story instead examining the idea that no matter what we do, we cannot make a difference as all our actions and our “paths” in life are pre-determined. As was observed to be the core idea of determinism by Austrian-British philosopher in his book entitled “The Open Universe”, “The metaphysical doctrine of determinism simply asserts that all events in this world are fixed, or unalterable, or predetermined.” (Popper, 1987)

By introducing the concept of “course-correcting”, I use a metaphor relating to the idea that there is a predetermined course for all people in this world. The shopkeeper is important in establishing the concept and explaining it to the reader and to Ruben simultaneously, through the scene in which the construction worker is crushed by scaffolding and the dialogue between the shopkeeper and Ruben. This scene also serves as an example to Ruben, an example which is designed to convey the fact that he will be ultimately unsuccessful in his attempts to change the past and that his relationship is doomed to fail. The main purpose of this scene, with regards to the reader, is quite simply to explain the concept of determinism and prove its existence within the fictional setting of the