In A Sound of Thunder, by Ray Bradbury, the act of hunting symbolizes man’s greed and unnecessary need to control his environment. It’s a commentary on modern humans that hunt endangered species for their own wants.
Hunting animals for game isn’t a necessity; humans hunt animals because we are greedy and have an urge to control our environment, whether or not we should. In the text, when the hunters travel back in time, the tour guide says the path is to, “keep you from touching this world of the past in any way” (3). This shows how humans aren’t supposed to interfere with the world by hunting these dinosaurs. The costs of potentially altering the course of history is not worth the benefits of “picture of you standing near it” (9). While time travel is something that we want to invent, this dialogue shows how we shouldn’t actually utilize it. Using time travel could change the world as we know it, but as
…show more content…
In this dinosaur era, no other humans exist. Travis references religion because they are the “first” to roam this era, therefore they have the power to alter the passage of time. This level of power is usually reserved for gods, which again, implies that the act of hunting is similar to being a god, as hunter gatherers were the first group of people to exist, before religion rose up. Lastly, the act of hunting requires killing an animal, usually with a gun. When a gun fires in the text, it is written as, “a sound of thunder” (12). In various mythologies, the element of thunder is commanded by a god. This shows that the act of hunting and the sound of thunder is implying the wielder of the gun is a god. The act of hunting is literally playing god as the hunter decides which animal live and which animal dies. Hunting is not something that should be taken lightly. In the end, when Travis shoots Eckels, he takes the life of another human and plays god, again, having ultimate control over the