A Sound of Thunder Cover Image

A Sound of Thunder

by Ray Bradbury

Start Free Trial

Editor's Choice

What do the thunder and crushed butterfly symbolize in "A Sound of Thunder"?

Quick answer:

In "A Sound of Thunder," thunder symbolizes death and danger, primarily associated with the Tyrannosaurus rex and the climactic moment when Travis fires his rifle, possibly killing Eckels. The crushed butterfly represents the "butterfly effect," highlighting how small actions can lead to significant changes in the future. This symbolizes the fragility of the past and the profound impact of disturbing it, as evidenced by the altered future when Eckels returns.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

These two symbolic items are symbolic of different ideas. The thunder symbolically represents death and danger. The main usages for thunder are in describing the Tyrannosaurus rex. It thunders along the ground and makes roaring noises along with its thunderous progression. The sight and sound of the animal puts fear in all of the men, and it isn't until the creature is dead that the sound of thunder is gone. The next time that "thunder" is heard occurs in the final sentence of the story when Travis fires his rifle. Interestingly, readers don't know if Travis's sound of thunder kills Eckels or himself.

The butterfly is a symbolic image for the concept of small changes leading toward massive changes in the future. The popular phrase for this is the "butterfly effect." Ray Bradbury is not one to coin this phrase; he just includes the concept and an actual butterfly in...

Unlock
This Answer Now

Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.

Get 48 Hours Free Access

his story. The butterfly effect concept was first described by that name by a meteorologist named Edward Lorenz. He was working on predictive weather model simulations, and he changed a minuscule amount of data. The results of the simulation were drastically different than the original model, and Lorenz made the imaginative connection that a butterfly's wing flap could possibly change an entire weather pattern. A small change in one location creates drastic differences elsewhere, and Bradbury's butterfly is symbolic of that concept.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

In "A Sound of Thunder," which is set in the future, a man named Eckels pays $10,000 to go on a safari that takes him and others back in time to hunt a T-Rex. Anyone who goes on such a safari can only kill animals that would have died in a few minutes anyway and must stay on a special path that hovers six inches off the ground. Not the slightest thing from the past can be disturbed or the consequences for the future might be immense.

Unfortunately, Eckels gets frightened and runs off the path. When he gets back to his usual time in the future, he notices that everything is subtly altered and then finds a crushed butterfly from prehistoric times on the bottom of his shoe. Killing this butterfly symbolizes tampering with the past and, in so doing, changing the future. It symbolizes the fragility of the past and the importance of respecting that fragility.

The word thunder appears five times in the story. The first four times it is associated with the thunder of the T-Rex, both the noise he makes and the sound of killing him. It is associated with death. The final time in the story the word is used, it indicates Eckels being shot and killed.

Approved by eNotes Editorial