The Significance of Theme in the story "A Sound of Thunder"
Every piece of literature contains an essential idea or topic, even if it is not necessarily obvious. For instance, in the piece "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury, he heavily expresses the theme of preserving nature. Eckels, the protagonist, desires to step back in time to hunt a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The hunting guide, Travis, explains to Eckels that he must obey the directions carefully as they are required to follow specific rules. Lesperance is also another guide, but he needs help understanding the rules. However, he follows Travis' rules as the leader. While on the hunt, Eckles makes poor decisions, which leads to a domino effect of consequences. Bradbury uses the theme to enunciate the message that preserving nature is dependent on humankind.
Each action always has consequences. In the story "A Sound of Thunder," a series of events lead to one immediate consequence, but Eckles does not seem to think about how his decisions affect his outcomes. Eckles states how he watches the little butterfly fall to the floor, and he thinks about how every move he made has been a domino effect, which changes everything when he returns to reality. He thinks to himself after he picks up the dead butterfly off of
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After they kill the tyrannosaurus rex, Lesperance asks the two hunters if they want a trophy picture, but Travis says, "We can't take a trophy back to the future. The body has to stay right here where it would have died originally, so the insects, birds, and bacteria can get at it, as they were intended to. Everything in balance. The body stays. But we can take a picture of you standing near it" (pg. 144). This quote explains how Travis stands up by explaining to the two hunters that they can not risk moving a single aspect of nature or else bad penalties will happen and could affect the