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History In Ray Bradbury's Short Story 'A Sound Of Thunder'

517 Words3 Pages

Time Safari, Inc. is a business that takes people back in time to hunt any animal that ever existed. Anyone who had the money for it could go back and shoot saber-tooth tigers, mammoths, black rhinos, and many others. A very strict set of rules governed the trips to insure that history would not be changed, but would those rules always keep history safe? In Ray Bradbury’s short story, “ A Sound of Thunder,” the main character is murdered because he changed history by being scared, not taking responsibility for his actions, and for disobeying orders. The very big game Eckels, the main character, decided to hunt might just be scaring him a little because Eckels is going hunting for a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Eckels is scared throughout this entire story. He showed how …show more content…

I've done nothing!’”. Eckels also denied his faults when they arrived back at Time Safari Inc. when he saw the butterfly he had stepped on. The price he paid for his irresponsibility was his life. If Eckels had just followed his orders, he would not have had to take responsibility for anything. The main reason history was changed was when Eckels disobeyed his orders. When they had finally reached their desired time period, Travis told Eckels not to go off or fall off the Path. Travis also reminded him to stay on the path after Travis had explained the consequences of disturbing the past world by stepping off the Path. And yet, when the dinosaur lunged for them, he backed off the Path. This is how he stepped on the butterfly and doomed the present life. Because Eckels changed history by being scared, did not take responsibility for his actions, and disobeyed orders, he was killed by Travis. If he hadn't been scared, he would not have stepped of the path. If he had taken responsibility, Travis might have not murdered him. If he had obeyed instructions, he would not have changed history. And in conclusion, one small, stepped on butterfly could have terrifying

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