Ray Bradbury’s, A Sound of Thunder, takes place in a post-modern world where humans are able to travel through time. A man named Eckels, and a hunting group go back into the past to hunt down a dinosaur. The group quickly finds the dinosaur, and it approaches them at a fast pace. After seeing the dinosaur in person, Eckels becomes afraid and decides to go back. Since Eckels was so afraid, he accidentally abandons the path back to the time machine. He later discovers that when he strayed away from the path, he had stepped on a single butterfly. The group later discovers that this small butterfly changed the entire future drastically. When the group arrives back to their time, they find out that things were different. The new world had different languages, new presidents, new smells, and so much more. Everything in the world had changed because of the hunting group’s small mistakes. Throughout the story, Ray Bradbury adds numerous clues of symbolism to further enhance the plot of the story, and possibly teach a lesson.
One example of symbolism is the frequently occurring thunder. The subject of thunder is introduced several times throughout the story. When the dinosaur approached the group, it came with great flashing thunder. When Travis was about to shoot Eckels, there was also a sound of thunder. Thunder is typically a frightening occurrence, and can represent many different things. In this case, thunder represents danger and death. The first time thunder was brought into the story was when the dinosaur was charging at the hunting group. It was as if the thunder was introducing the deadly dinosaur, hinting to the hunting members that they were facing danger, and possibly death. Bradbury includes a second flash of thunder when Travis was holding a gun to Eckels’ head. At that moment, thunder flashed, hinting that Travis had shot Eckels, leaving him dead. By including thunder throughout the story, Bradbury is able to foreshadow and show the dangers of the hunting group’s choices.
In the story, the path that is taken to the time machine was greatly emphasized. Bradbury even capitalized the words “the Path”, to further demonstrate its significance. The Path was described as narrow, meaning there was no room for even the smallest of mistakes. When Eckels saw the terrifying figure of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, he fled back to the time machine, straying away from the original path. This is another act of symbolism that Bradbury puts into the story. The path that is mentioned in the article can also represent the path that life takes, also known as destiny. Eckels was supposed the follow the correct path back to the time machine. He failed to do so, and because he was so afraid, he strayed from the original path. Altering the path could greatly affect the future, and the same goes for life. The Path is a symbolic message, suggesting that if someone strays apart from their path of life, it could lead to the entire future being changed.