A Sound of Thunder

As Ray Bradbury's story "A Sound of Thunder" introduces its characters, setting, and plot and as it builds tension toward its climax, it incorporates several details that foreshadow occurrences...

The two most significant and related themes of the story "A Sound of Thunder," are that the existence of everything is connected to the existence of everything else and that human life cannot be...

As a writer, Bradbury was renowned for his highly lyrical prose. Much of his writing was extremely imagery intensive and flooded with metaphor. "A Sound of Thunder" is no exception. In this short...

Ray Bradbury had a very florid writing style, rich in description and metaphor, and "A Sound of Thunder" is no exception. Consider the following passage, when Bradbury describes the Tyrannosaurus:...

The main metaphor in this story is, as the first answer says, thunder. The metaphor of thunder seems to be used just to describe the sheer physical awesomeness of the dinosaur, but it is much more...

Personification is the attribution of human characteristics to something that is not human. As we read through Bradbury's short story, we find a great deal of figurative language, and...

The short answer to this question is: We don’t know for sure. What we do know is that a group of hunters went back to prehistoric time with the Time Safari leaders to shoot and kill a Tyrannosaurus...

I would not describe Eckels in very positive terms. I have never liked the character of Eckels. The fact that he messes everything up in the present doesn't exactly endear him to me. I would...

Eckels is an arrogant person; he is used to being in charge, yet he lacks self knowledge. He doesn't consider the serious ramifications of time travel. It's simply another experience he can...

Travis kills Eckels at the end of the story because Eckels disobeyed the rules of traveling back into time to the dinosaur age—but as we will see, Bradbury implies it is more complicated than...

In the famous science fiction short story "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury, a man named Eckels books a place in an unusual hunting expedition through a company called Time Safari, Inc. He and a...

In "A Sound of Thunder," Mr. Travis is an employee of Time Safari Inc. He is a safari guide, tasked with telling people what they can shoot and when to take the shot. It is also his responsibility...

One could argue that the primary conflict in Ray Bradbury's celebrated short story "A Sound of Thunder" is a Man vs. Nature conflict. In a typical Man vs. Nature conflict, characters struggle...

The first sound of thunder that Eckels hears are the steps of the gigantic Tyrannosaurus Rex walking through the forest. The thunderous steps drown out the myriad of forest sounds as Eckels and the...

The theme of Bradbury's short story is related to how everything in has a purpose and there is a causal connection for all of the events that subsume us. There are things interlinked to a degree...

I would say that the overall mood of Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" is suspenseful and intense. Both of those feelings are given to the reader because Bradbury makes sure that the reader...

When Eckels confronts the dinosaur, his initial reaction is one of disbelief. He says that it is "impossible" to kill this dinosaur and that they were "fools" to come. In other words, Eckels has...

When the time travelers return to 2055, they immediately notice that the man behind the desk in the office has changed in a subtle way. As Bradbury writes, "the same man did not quite sit behind...

"A Sound of Thunder" begins with Eckels standing before the Time Safari Sign, then paying the ten thousand dollars to travel back in time. I feel that this decision, to go back in time to kill the...

The basic setting in which the story takes place is a jungle in which a safari is being conducted. The characters are on a type of safari- like hunt for a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The safari is taking...

There are several external conflicts in the short story "A Sound of Thunder." The dangerous Tyrannosaurus Rex that threatens Eckels's life is an example of an external man vs. nature conflict. The...

Foreshadowing refers to a technique by which writers give advance hints about key plot points which will emerge later on within the story. Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" follows Eckels, a time...

Eckels is a pompous blowhard. That might be not be technical enough, but it is how I would describe him. Perhaps a better character description of Eckels would be to describe him as an arrogant...

A theme throughout Bradbury's work is the need to for humans to be in control of the powerful technology we have developed or might develop in the future. We should handle it with care and not...

Internal conflicts occur within the character's own mind. For example, wrestling with a moral decision or facing fear are kinds of internal dilemmas a character might experience. External conflicts...

One could make the argument that Eckels is the protagonist and Time Safari, Inc. is the antagonist of Bradbury's celebrated short story "A Sound of Thunder." Eckels is certainly the protagonist of...

When he travels into the pre-historic past, Eckels steps off the anti-gravity path made by Time Safari, Inc., and in so doing, he kills a butterfly. This act has consequences that reach all the way...

The most obvious foreshadowing is when Travis warns Eckles about leaving the path. He states that even if Eckles stepped on and killed a mouse it could result in mice dying out, which in turn could...

I think there's an argument that we don't entirely know the full nature of the changes Eckels has created in the timeline. Afterall, what we see at the end of the story is, more than anything else,...

The title is a phrase taken from the narrative of Bradbury's short story; it is used twice. The first time it is a description of the footsteps of the Tyrannosaurus Rex that Eckels has contracted...

In "A Sound of Thunder," hunters time travel. When they travel back in time, the hunters must be extremely careful not to alter anything at all that exists in the previous time in which they insert...

In “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury, Travis, the man who works for the time machine, is very clear about how they must behave while they are in the past. He goes into great detail about how...

The climax of a story is the turning point. It's the point where everything changes. The climax of this story occurs once Eckels and the safari group return to the present. They realize that the...

Before Eckels embarks on the Time Safari, President Keith recently won the election over a dictatorial candidate named Deutscher. Both Eckels and the man behind the desk are glad that Keith won the...

In "A Sound of Thunder," Ray Bradbury explores how apparently minor changes in the past might create catastrophic changes to the future. With this in mind, Time Safari has set up various safeguards...

Before Eckels leaves with his safari guides to shoot a dinosaur from the prehistoric past, he says, If the election had gone badly yesterday, I might be here now running away from the results....

Bradbury initially creates suspense when one of the Time Safari officials tells Eckels that their company does not guarantee his safety during the expedition. Eckels's expedition to the distant...

Eckels is a nervous man. Eckels is a big game hunter. He hires Time Safari, Inc. to take him back to the days of the dinosaurs so he can shoot a Tyrannosaurus Rex. However, Eckels is a bit of a...

The point of view of any story is the perspective from which it is told. In Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder," we are told the story from the perspective of Eckels, in a "third-person limited"...

Because "A Sound of Thunder" is an exploration and critique of the hubris of using advanced technology for frivolous purposes, the story has two settings: the age of dinosaurs and the "present day"...

The time travel paradox is that you might go back in time and meet yourself. A paradox is a contradiction. The problem with time travel is that if it were really possible, nothing could change....

"The sound of thunder" occurs five times in Ray Bradbury's short story of the same name: four times in reference to the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and once in reference to a gunshot. The sound of thunder...

The only dinosaurs that are killed are about to die anyway. The time travel safari company Time Safari, Inc. allows its customers a unique experience. They get to go back in time and kill a...

Indirect characterization is the process whereby an author shows us a character's traits through their speech and behavior. Direct characterization occurs when the narrator or another character in...

When Eckels sees the gigantic Tyrannosaurus Rex for the first time, he panics and runs back to the Time Machine while Travis and Lesperance shoot the dinosaur as it rapidly closes in on them. When...

In Ray Bradbury’s short story “A Sound of Thunder,” Eckels wants to go back in time to hunt dinosaurs because he is what is commonly called a “trophy hunter.” Trophy hunters are those who crave the...

Time Safari arranges safaris to any year in the past to shoot any animal you want. The sign at the entrance tells you pretty much all you need to know about what safaris are offered. TIME SAFARI,...

In the Bradbury story "A Sound of Thunder," Time Safari, Inc. brings travelers to previous eras in time to hunt the animals of their choice. At the beginning of the story, a man named Eckels hires...

Changing anything but what they came there for will trigger the Butterfly Effect. The Butterfly Effect describes unexpected consequences from a minor event. When Eckels steps on the butterfly, he...

"A Sound of Thunder" concerns a group of hunters using a time machine to travel into the distant past, in order to hunt animals that are extinct in the modern era. In this particular case, they are...