Eckels 'Return In A Sound Of Thunder'

In the short story “A Sound of Thunder” a man by the name of Eckels pays thousands of dollars to time travel to see dinosaurs. This short story is essentially all about how the different actions people make have special consequences in return. In the story Eckels tends to not listen to what the time travel guide directs him to do which leads to hazardous results. Ray Bradbury is trying to show his audience that you must listen and think before acting on a situation so you do not have a harsh consequence. Eckels is a fearless and clueless man in the story time-traveling into the past. It does not seem as if he has much experience hunting but he goes hunting for the first time when he time travels. Eckels being clueless about hunting can be very risky and could cause possible harm to the future if he messes up and does

An example in the short story where Eckels acts before he thinks would be when the time traveling guide specifically tells everyone not to wander off the path because it can have consequences in the future and stating “if you fall off the path there’s a stiff penalty”, Eckels does the exact opposite of what the guide tells him to do. Eckels strays off the path and leaves marks on the ground that were not supposed to be altered or touched in anyway, he later steps on a butterfly causing irreparable damages to the future. Eckels stepping on the butterfly caused the election of the president to change candidates. The stepping on the butterfly is an example of the butterfly effect; a small change in one state that results in a large difference in a later state. Ray Bradbury incorporated the butterfly effect theory into his short story to show people how much their actions can have an impact on others. This theory also incorporates with thinking before acting which is the main subject matter of the