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Influence Of Past Actions In Ray Bradbury's A Sound Of Thunder

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Past Actions can influence the Future. Changes in the ecosystem in the past influence how the future ecosystem will work and look like in the future. Today the world we live in is determined by the past working together in the ecosystem with any species or living object that lived and strived on one another but how so? “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury is a fictional story about a team of hunters, Eckels, Travis, and Lesperance who make it a mission to travel back in time to hunt a dinosaur. Later in the story they soon realize why the government does not approve of anyone traveling back in time due to how nature can change throughout history by only killing one butterfly. Some people may disagree with the statement that Ray Bradbury is trying to betray small actions that have big consequences, especially …show more content…

If the hunter where to take the dinosaurs back to the decade they came from, that could possibly kill or insteak any species that thrive off of a carcass in order to survive. At the same time, once the carcass of the dinosaur is in the decaying state, the ground will feed off of the carcass which will help plants and other insects survive. These plants and insects allow other creatures or organisms to survive. Taking away one organism from an ecosystem can change everything in the future, or even change its appearance. “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury creates a life-learning story in fiction to help people better understand how the human species play an important role in an ecosystem and how even humans have their own place in the ecosystem circle of life. In other words, humans are the most capable species to change the environment for the future if we want to. With the technology we have now created, we have the power to do so and if not used correctly, we can cause a devastating future for our life long blood lines. For instance, if we were to kill an organism like a mosquito that we do not like, that could

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Time is a hard set of rules, not a set of guidelines; it is set in stone, but, in an alternate reality, perhaps it can be changed. In this story, this premise is realized, and the result is nothing short of astounding. Humans aren't able to change time, if they could, disaster may ensue. In Ray Bradbury’s short story, “The Sound of Thunder,” the main character, Eckles, is murdered because of his own stupidity, the accumulated anger of his safari guide, and the effects he causes in this alternate timeline he arrived in. Eckels made very poor decisions while he was out on his safari, mistakes that would never be forgiven.

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IV. TONE The major tone of “A Sound of Thunder” is suspense. From the beginning of the story Bradbury succeeds in placing the reader in Eckels’ shoes. The audience absorbs the danger and suspense that Eckels feels as he is told not only that his safety is not guaranteed, but also that he would not be the first person to perish on a Time Safari.

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I found the idea of the slightest change in the past might drastically change the future, very interesting. In the story, Eckels uses a company’s time machine to go back to a time when dinosaurs roamed. While there, he made a small mistake that caused big consequences. Eckels’ death in the end made me feel bad because it was a mistake caused by fear. The mistake seemed like just a small indent at the time, but proved to have a life changing effect on the outcome of Eckels’ present day life.

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The theme of Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" is enhanced by his use of foreshadowing throughout the story. The story follows a man named Eckles on his journey to the past on a hunt for a real dinosaur. As the events in the past unfold, Eckles ultimately alters the future forever by taking a small step off the Path. The path is there to make sure the time travelers do not affect the future. Unfortunately, Eckles learns the true consequences of his actions when he returns to a changed future.

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In Ray Bradbury's short story “A Sound of Thunder”, a murder is committed against Eckels a professional hunter. Eckel’s mistake allowed the present to be altered, and eventually resulted in his murder. Eckel’s murder resulted from his being scared and not following directions, which changed the present. Being scared was Eckel's first mistake of many which eventually led to his demise. There are three pieces of evidence that proves Eckels was scared.

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Bradbury uses foreshadowing in many of his stories. The one I think he uses foreshadowing in the most would be The Sound of Thunder. Throughout the story they repeatedly say “Stay on the path! Stay on the path!”. The whole time I was reading, I knew someone was going to step off the path.

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In the text, it states “ This fool nearly killed us but it isn't that so much no it's his shoes look at them he ran off the path that ruins us…” ( Bradbury 9 ). Therefore, Eckles made a mistake by stepping off the directed path and hunting down a petite butterfly. He did not think anything of doing such small and ineffective things, that he believed would not have such a big impact on history.

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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.

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The safari officials stress to not step off the path or Eckel’s will change the future if harm is done to the past. Eckel’s not believing that going back into time may stress Ray Bradbury’s theme that, which is, one’s small decisions may have drastic consequences

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“I don’t try to describe the future, I try to prevent it.” (Bradbury) Bradbury’s depictions of the future, written in the 1950’s, explain his motives for writing in a science fiction style with a heavier emphasis on fiction than science. Ray Bradbury influences people in a way that cannot be mimicked. He used fictional stories to deliver an important message that can be applied throughout time. The message is how our actions affect our future today.

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The storyline tries to make us to think about what is going in the story. The characters need to come up with how they are going to take down the dinosaur. Time traveling can affect many of the characters in certain ways. For example, In Sound of Thunder Eckels accidentally falls off the path which affects the timeline. Eckels learned that there were consequences to what he did.

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If they could not go back in time then the author would not be able to convey the theme that he wanted too. He needed one of the characters to be able to kill something in the past in order to show how the Butterfly Effect works. The author also wants to show you that everything that you do has consequences and sometimes those consequences can be very large. The author uses a tense and exciting plot to convey his theme. When the group of hunters get to the point where the T-Rex is about to appear the author goes in depth to describe the setting and situation that they are in.

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Jane Goodall, a primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist, explains that the greatest risk to our future is lacking enthusiasm and concern about its outcome. Considering Goodall is extremely environmentally keen, it is more than likely she is emphasizing this towards the future of the entire ecosystem, including plants and animals, rather than only the future of the human race. She explains that if the human race falls to a deficiency of caring about our environment, it can and will lead to a vast threat to the future of the world’s ecosystem. Often humans forget about the importance of the ecosystem and instead we become caught up in ourselves and our own individual needs. Goodall is stressing that if these egotistical human acts continue to occur, the future of our ecosystem is in jeopardy.

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Wouldn’t it be impressive to have a big writing gig at the age of 14? Ray Bradbury, a self-taught author, first job was writing for a radio show at the age of 14. As time went on, he wrote many short stories, novels, screenplays, and television scripts. Bradbury has wrote more than 600 short stories and 30 books. Throughout all his works, they share many concepts, but are also very different.

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The Foundation of a Story In “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury, the setting is slightly peculiar. The story takes place in the future and the past. It begins and ends in the year 2055 at a time travel hunting business, however, the majority of the story takes place millions of years before, during the time of the dinosaurs. Throughout the story, the setting sets the tone, motivates the characters actions, and leads to the theme.

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