A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury is a short story. It is about a man named Mr. Eckels who lives in the year 2055, when time travel is possible. In the story, Eckels pays $10,000 to go on a trip back in time to hunt a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Before they depart, Eckels and the other hunters discuss their opinions on the recent presidential elections, where a man named Keith beat his top competitor, Deutscher. When they arrive, the guide tells them how they must stay on a path that is built 6 inches off the ground in order not to disturb the earth. He explains that stepping off it could kill one mouse, which could leave to all the mice who descended from it to die. He also explains that the Tyrannosaurus Rex is marked with red paint, and would die a few minutes after anyway, as to not have an important effect on the future. When he sees the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Eckels gets afraid and begins to run away. The guide, Travis, tells him to return to the time machine but the disturbed Eckels strays off the path. He hears shots fired, and sees that the other men have succeeded in killing the Tyrannosaurus Rex. When Travis realizes that Eckels had strayed away from the path, he says that he will leave Eckels if he doesn’t take the bullets from the dinosaurs body. When they return, Eckels soon realizes that something is off. Words are spelled differently, and Deutscher has won the election instead of Keith. When he looks down, he sees a crushed butterfly that had created the change for a new present he had returned to. He begs to go back to fix it, but Travis adamantly refuses. Travis takes his gun, and there is a sound of thunder.
The idea for the setting is rather unconvincing, as I doubt that by the year 2055 time travel will be possible. It is already 2020, but this seems to be maybe centuries away. However, I really enjoyed reading this story. I found it interesting and smartly written. I also liked how there were several themes relevant to the story. The sound of thunder at the end implies that Travis had shot Eckels, and Eckels died.
The theme of the story that seems most apparent to me is be careful, because your actions may have unintended consequences. Often, in time travel stories, the main characters are warned not to do anything that might affect the future. In this story, Eckels is careless and runs off the path. He believes that kicking up a little dirt won’t have a big affect on the future. However, because he stepped on the butterfly, it does. If he had stayed on the path, the future would have not changed. He did not intend for that to happen, but it did due to his carelessness.
This story is definitely something that I would recommend to other people because it is written in a very nice way, and the themes are very significant to any time-travel story. Most people enjoy a bit of adventure, so this story is perfect.
I loved this read, and I think it was my favorite story I read in the entire Sunny Youth camp. A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury is definitely a story that I will remember forever.