Symbolism In A Sound Of Thunder

The Analysis of the Preservation of Nature in Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder” One mountaineer, John Muir, speaks about nature saying, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” In his short story “A Sound of Thunder,” Ray Bradbury writes about a time when travel has become a popular and lucrative industry. In this world, wealthy hunters can pay to go back in time to hunt extinct animals, with the assistance of trained guides to ensure they don't alter the past. The main characters, Eckels and Mr. Travis, travel back sixty million two thousand and fifty-five years in the past to go on a safari with very strict regulations to prevent them from altering the present. During the safari,

While on their safari, Mr. Travis continues to warn Eckels of the consequences of stepping off the path. He warns Eckels, “A dead mouse here makes an insect imbalance there, a population disproportion later, a bad harvest further on, a depression, mass starvation, a change in social temperament in far-flung countries” (Bradbury para. 40). This quote shows that the smallest disruption can cause a chain reaction of events that can cause the very thing that they are trying to avoid. In the story “A Sound of Thunder”, the characters do not want Duetsher to win the election because of the corrupt government that he would enforce. Luckily Keith wins the election, but after Eckels goes back in time and steps on the butterfly, the team return to the present and Duetsher has won the election and their country is changed for the worse. A deceased mouse or a smashed butterfly may seem insignificant and almost harmless at the moment, but one’s actions can cause the very thing that one is going

One might say that these events or “dominos” are set in place and that there is nothing to do to stop these events. Bradbury disproves this because his theme shows the difference in the smallest actions can cause limitless possibilities. On their expedition, Travis proceeds to talk to Eckles about how killing a single mouse can kill up to a billion possible mice. With no more mice, a fox dies. With no fox, a lion dies. With no lions, billions of life forms are thrown into chaos and destruction (Bradbury para 36-38). This shows how disorder and disarray can ensue when one tampers with nature. When the hunter steps off the path and kills a butterfly, he unknowingly sets off a chain of events that ultimately leads to the destruction of the world. The butterfly’s death may seem insignificant, but it is this small act that sets off a chain reaction that leads to catastrophic