A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury

Key Concepts

• Time Safari, Inc.: A company offering safaris to any year in the past, allowing clients to hunt extinct animals.
• Eckels: Main character who pays $10,000 for a safari to hunt a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
• Mr. Travis: Safari Guide responsible for instructing hunters on what to shoot.

Rules and Warnings

• Participants must follow strict rules: stay on the Path, only shoot approved animals.
• Violations incur severe penalties, $10,000 fine and possible government action.
• The Path is designed with anti-gravity to prevent any interaction with the environment.
• Importance of not altering the past to avoid catastrophic changes to history.

Explanation of Time Travel Consequences

• Killing even a small creature can have significant impacts on the future.
• Example: Killing a mouse could result in the death of future species and alter human history.
• A detailed explanation of the domino effect from small changes.

The Safari

• Eckels and his group travel back 60 million years.
• They are warned not to step off the Path or shoot any unapproved animals.
• Lesperance marks animals that would die soon anyway to minimize impact.

The Encounter with the Dinosaur

• T-Rex is depicted as an immense, terrifying creature.
• Eckels panics and is instructed to return to the Machine.
• The group successfully kills the dinosaur, which was already marked as near death.

Consequences of Eckels’ Actions

• Eckels accidentally steps off the Path and returns with mud on his shoes.
• This seemingly minor action is suggested to have possibly altered history.

Return to the Present

• Upon return, subtle changes suggest history has been altered.
• The spelling on the sign is different, and the political leader is not the expected one.
• Discovery of a dead butterfly on Eckels’ boot confirms changes to the timeline.

Themes

• The Butterfly Effect: Small actions can have vast impacts across time and history.
• Responsibility and Consequence: Emphasizes the importance of following rules and understanding the weight of one’s actions.

Final Scene

• Travis, furious, raises his gun at Eckels.
• The story concludes with a sound of thunder, implying a grim end.

Reference

• Origin: Published in "R is for Rocket" by Ray Bradbury, 1952.