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Theme Of A Sound Of Thunder

1038 Words5 Pages

Regan Palmer
Mrs. Ruiz
English 102
18 April 2023
An Analysis of the Theme in Bradbury’s
“A Sound of Thunder” In most short narratives, the author creates an underlying message or cautionary tone on a specific issue. This recurring subject throughout any literary work is the theme. Throughout “A Sound of Thunder”, a science fiction short story written by Ray Bradbury, the author addresses the issue of nature preservation with the plot of two characters, Eckels and Travis, entering a time machine to hunt a Tyrannosaurus Rex. After embarking on the time travel journey, a series of impromptu events lead Eckels to negatively alter the future. Because Eckels was reckless and did not pay attention to his behavior, the results of an influential election …show more content…

The path symbolizes the preservation of nature and stepping off of it represents destroying it. Travis warns Eckels multiple times throughout the plot to “never step off” of the path because affecting the past in any way could lead to unknown consequences in the future (Bradbury, 141). This shows that humans are afraid of the unknown, especially when it involves the state of nature that surrounds them. Travis’s constant warnings foreshadow the possibility of Eckels making an incorrect step off the path and causing future events to change. Because an uncareful step is such a small action, Bradbury is addressing the fact that the small, unfriendly environmental actions that humans make are actually important. One might not even think of their action having a related effect, but it ultimately always does. Bradbury’s use of the Path and its associated rules in his story suggests that if humans are not careful with their actions, they can alter nature's future for the …show more content…

Time Safari Inc., the company that allows Eckels to travel back in time, appears to understand the dangerous ripple effect of changing the past. The company blatantly warns that they do not guarantee clients to return from safaris alive, demonstrating that they themselves cannot promise a certain outcome. Eckels also signs a waiver stating that Time Safari Inc. is not responsible for any personal damage or death to clients, and he agrees to obey his safari guide with exactness before entering the time machine. However, there are penalties already set in place in case a safarist steps off the path or disobeys orders. This shows that even though the company believes they can safely control the past and future, there is always room for chance and unforeseen risks. When Eckels makes it back to his present time period of 2055, he discovers that his accidental trip off of the Path led him to step on a butterfly. This miniscule action caused an influential election to be altered unfavorably. Bradbury describes the dead butterfly as “a small thing that could upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes and then big dominoes and then gigantic dominoes” (p. 146). One can interpret this analogy of falling dominoes as the impossibility of predicting the outcomes of small actions. Dominos fall quickly and lead to a greater and greater end product. However, others can

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