ray bradbury safari

A Summary and Analysis of Ray Bradbury’s ‘A Sound of Thunder’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘A Sound of Thunder’ is one of the best-known short stories by the American writer Ray Bradbury (1920-2012). A time-travel story about how changing the past could bring about momentous and catastrophic changes to the future, ‘A Sound of Thunder’ is often taught and studied in schools and remains a classic of 1950s science fiction.

The story was first published in Collier’s magazine in 1952 and then collected a year later in Bradbury’s short-story collection, The Golden Apples of the Sun .

You can read ‘A Sound of Thunder’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Bradbury’s story below.

‘A Sound of Thunder’: plot summary

The story begins in the future, some time around 2055 (or after). A time-travel safari company in the United States, Time Safari Inc., allows animal-hunters to travel back in time in a Time Machine and kill a long-extinct animal, such as a dinosaur. A man named Eckels turns up ready to undertake his safari.

We learn that a US presidential election has just taken place, and everyone is relieved that ‘Keith’ won, rather than his opponent, Deutscher, an anti-intellectual who would have made America into a dictatorship.

Eckels is inquisitive, asking his safari guide, Travis, about the way the safari works. Travis tells him and his fellow hunters – there are two other men travelling back with Travis and his assistant, Lesperance – to stick to the path and only shoot where he tells them to shoot. They are going to shoot and kill a Tyrannosaurus rex once they arrive over sixty million years in the past.

This dinosaur has been specially chosen and marked by Lesperance with red paint earlier that day, so they make sure they kill the right animal and nothing else. The Tyrannosaurus rex targeted for the hunt originally would have died just a few minutes later in any case, so they know that, in killing it, they aren’t interfering with the past.

Travis is very firm when hammering home the importance of sticking to instructions to ensure they don’t interfere with the past. The US government doesn’t like them travelling back in time, so Time Safari Inc. have to pay them a lot of money to keep them sweet and take all sorts of precautions. When Travis tells them that even stepping on and killing a mouse so far in the past could alter the future – and their present from which they have travelled – in all sorts of ways.

This is because, especially over such a vast period of time, little things add up. That one dead mouse, had it lived, might have had a whole family of mice, who would each have produced their own families, and so on. Millions of potential mice would then never exist, if one of the men trod on it back in the distant past.

The foxes which depend on the mice for food would die out. The lions which prey on the foxes would starve. And eventually, when early cavemen evolved, they would have starved, too, and so a whole nation which that one man might have sired would never exist.

Eckels is dismissive that such small changes in the past could have such colossal ramifications. When they arrive in the past and spot the Tyrannosaurus rex targeted for their hunt, it is such a fearsome and majestic beast that Eckels grows terrified, claiming they will be unable to kill it. In his panic, he veers off the specially designated path on which they have been instructed to remain, and steps into the jungle.

The other men shoot and kill the dinosaur, while Travis, angry with Eckels, tells him to go and wait in the Time Machine. As a punishment for flouting his instructions and walking into the jungle, Travis makes Eckels go and retrieve the bullets from the mouth of the dead animal. They then return to their present world, with Travis in two minds over whether to kill Eckels for disobeying his orders and getting the safari company into trouble.

However, upon their arrival they notice that things are subtly different. Both the front desk at the safari company and the man seated behind it are slightly different from before. The air has a chemical taint to it. And the spelling on the safari company’s sign has changed, implying that the English language is different, too. They also learn from the man on the front desk that Deutscher won the election, rather than Keith, and has transformed the United States into a fascist state.

Examining the mud on his shoe, Eckels finds a dead butterfly. Killing the insect has wrought these terrible changes across time. Travis raises his gun and shoots Eckels.

‘A Sound of Thunder’: analysis

‘A Sound of Thunder’ is one of the best-known time-travel stories in all of science fiction, and the tale shows Ray Bradbury’s gift for economical yet lyrical prose, tight narrative structure, and sharp delineation of character.

We sense that Eckels is going to be a liability on the trip from very early on, and much of the key exposition is carried out through dialogue, as Travis firmly – and with growing impatience – underscores the importance of not altering the past, because this could have terrible consequences far in the future.

To emphasise this point, both Bradbury’s third-person narrator and Travis, the key moral voice of the tale, repeatedly stress the interconnected nature of all living things. As Travis points out, the natural world is a delicate ecosystem in which every creature, no matter how small, plays its part: if mice die out, then foxes will die; if foxes die, lions will starve; if lions die out, vultures and insects that feed on a lion’s carcase will eventually go too.

And mankind is not separate from this ecosystem: if these animals did not exist in a particular part of the world, then early man, who relied on them for food (by hunting them, of course: a significant detail given the plot of ‘A Sound of Thunder’), would starve too. And that man might be the progenitor of men and women whose descendants are the very characters in the story, Eckels and Travis, or – as is implied at the end of the story – the nameless man at the front desk.

Even societal and political developments might end up taking a different path: in the election, although the more reasonable and moderate Keith won, the totalitarian Deutscher has won when they return to the altered future. (It’s worth bearing in mind that Bradbury’s story was first published just seven years after the end of the Second World War.

‘Deutscher’ summons ‘Deutschland’, the German name for Germany, and thus suggests the Nazis who had recently been defeated in the war.) With this in mind, one wonders what the ‘chemical taint’ in the air is when the men return to their present. Acid rain? Or the fallout from nuclear war?

Indeed, although the term ‘butterfly effect’ was named for the delicate but profound effects of a butterfly in the Amazon rainforest flapping its wings, it can obviously be retrospectively applied to the plot of ‘A Sound of Thunder’. (The expression ‘butterfly effect’ stemmed from a poetic metaphor for Chaos theory used by the meteorologist Edward Lorenz in the 1960s.)

The ‘ripple effect’ (as it’s also known) shows how delicately everything is related, so that if you remove one element, one single creature, the course of evolution, or the development of an ecosystem, could be radically transformed.

‘A Sound of Thunder’ is a masterly piece of storytelling, but Bradbury’s use of metaphor throughout is also highly effective. Consider the way that phrase, ‘a sound of thunder’, is applied both to the sound made by the Tyrannosaurus rex as it storms through the prehistoric landscape, and the sound made by Travis’ gun when he kills Eckels at the end of the story.

Bradbury applies the term ‘thunder’ to the Tyrannosaurus several times (curiously, another well-known dinosaur, the so-called Brontosaurus, has a name that literally means ‘thunder lizard’, from the thunderous sound made by the great hulking reptiles), but the last line of the story is the first time he applies ‘thunder’ to the sound of a man’s gun. Indeed, when the men shoot at the Tyrannosaurus rex, we are told that the sound of their rifles was ‘lost in shriek and lizard thunder’.

But in their future day, the killing, not of the Tyrannosaurus rex but of the little butterfly has brought out a tyrannical side to man in the future, with America ruled by an actual tyrant or dictator (‘Tyrannosaurus’ means ‘tyrant lizard’, from its dominant size; now, in the future, men are being dominated by a fascist tyrant in the White House).

Although Bradbury’s story is about the way the seemingly small matter of the butterfly’s demise actually has momentous implications for the natural world, the emphasis is, ultimately, just as much on the socio-political changes wrought by Eckels’ clumsiness.

And whilst it may be too much of an interpretive stretch to extrapolate from Eckels’ panic in the face of the mighty T-rex and suggest that one moral of ‘A Sound of Thunder’ is ‘fear breeds tyranny’, it is nevertheless significant that it is not Eckels’ wilfulness that leads to his chaotic destruction, but his blind panic.

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1 thought on “A Summary and Analysis of Ray Bradbury’s ‘A Sound of Thunder’”

I’m a big fan of Bradbury, so thanks for this analysis. Hope you can analyse more of his short stories:)

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A Sound of Thunder

A single mistake in the past, by a time travel company in the future, has devastating and unforeseen consequences. A single mistake in the past, by a time travel company in the future, has devastating and unforeseen consequences. A single mistake in the past, by a time travel company in the future, has devastating and unforeseen consequences.

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• Trivia Production was slowed when severe floods in the summer of 2002 in the Czech Republic caused considerable damage to the set.
• Goofs The men go back in time 65 million years, where they are attacked by an Allosaurus. However, Allosaurus lived during the Jurassic Period, which ended 145 million years ago.

Sonia Rand : I don't have time for stupid idiots.

Travis Ryer : Well, why don't you make some time. How about we stop with the insults, because it is starting to get on my nerves.

Sonia Rand : You think I devoted my career to designing an amusement park ride for rich men to compensate for their little willies by shooting prehistoric animals, is that what you really think?

Travis Ryer : No, what I think is that if you were a guy, someone would have probably knocked you on your ass a long time ago.

• Crazy credits Opening Card: In the year 2055, A new technology was invented that could change the world... or destroy it. a man named Charles Hatton used it to make money.
• Alternate versions For the Dutch DVD release the aspect ratio was changed from 2,35:1 to 1,78:1.
• Connections Featured in Troldspejlet: Episode #34.8 (2006)

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• Runtime 1 hour 50 minutes
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A Sound of Thunder

Ray bradbury, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

In the year 2055, Mr. Eckels enters the office of Time Safari, Inc. This company offers safaris to the past in order to hunt dinosaurs and other large prehistoric animals. Eckels greets the company official , who informs him that there are no guarantees that he will come back alive.

While waiting for his safari guides, Eckels makes small talk by expressing his relief that Keith was victorious in the recent presidential election. The official agrees that Keith is the best candidate for American and democratic values, asserting the Deutscher would have brought about a dictatorship. Eckels takes another moment to reflect on the danger of the expedition, hands over his check, and departs with the safari guide Mr. Travis .

Eckels settles into the Time Machine alongside Travis, fellow guide Lesperance , and two other hunters. The Machine blazes back through time as the travelers get settled with oxygen helmets. Eckels nervously contemplates the rifles they all hold, and eventually the passengers find themselves in the prehistoric past.

Upon descending from the Machine, Travis emphasizes that the travelers must not disturb the natural environment. He exhorts the hunters to stay on the metal Path that hovers over the ground in order to prevent stepping on any plant or animal. Crushing even the smallest life form, he explains, could disrupt ecological balance and change the future, not just of nature, but of human society. Lesperance explains that the party can safely shoot the specific animal he has previously marked for them, because he has already traveled back in time to find a creature that would die of some accident anyway and looped back to mark it with paint. Eckels asks him whether their hunt will be a success, but the guide explains that there is no way to know because one cannot meet oneself while traveling through time.

Soon the Tyrannosaurus Rex approaches with a sound of thunder . Eckels is transfixed when he comes face to face with the massive creature, proclaiming it impossible to kill and that he wishes to retreat. Lesperance directs him to wait in the Time Machine. Instead, dazed, Eckels wanders off the past while the other hunters shoot and kill the fearsome dinosaur.

Travis returns to find Eckels in the Time Machine. Realizing that Eckels wandered off the path, Travis yells that his transgression could ruin the company and threatens to leave him behind. He eventually orders Eckels to retrieve the bullets from the carcass. When Eckels returns, covered in blood, they leave for the future.

When they arrive, Travis orders Eckels to leave and never come back. Eckels, however, lingers for a moment, noticing that the atmosphere and small things about the office have changed. He slumps down into a chair and, examining his boots, finds that he has crushed a butterfly . Panicking, he asks the official about the election results and learns that Deutscher has won. After a few moments of pleading to go back and fix things, Eckels waits in silence while Travis aims a gun at him. Eckels hears Travis click the gun’s safety, followed by a sound of thunder .

Ray Bradbury: Short Stories

By ray bradbury, ray bradbury: short stories summary and analysis of "a sound of thunder".

In Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder," a hunter named Eckels pays $10,000 to travel with Time Safari, a time machine company that takes hunters back to the time of dinosaurs and allows them to hunt Tyrannosaurus Rex. The company guarantees nothing - neither your safety nor your return, and there are strict instructions and expectations for how the hunters should behave once they travel back in time. Eckels and the two other hunters, Billings and Kramer, are to obey their guide, Travis , at all times. Before they leave, Eckels reviews this information with the man behind the desk and they both engage in small talk. Everyone is happy because President Keith has just been elected, and many considered time travel as a way to escape the present day had Deutscher, the other candidate and potential dictator, won.

When they travel sixty million two thousand and fifty-five years back in time, Eckels is incredibly excited about the idea of conquering the beast Tyrannosaurus. He remarks, "Good God, every hunter that ever lived would envy us today. This makes Africa seem like Illinois" (3). Before they exit the time machine, Travis points out the path laid by Time Safari. It floats six inches about the earth and is the only path that the hunters should travel upon. They are not to touch anything during their stay in the past, and they are only to shoot when the guide and his assistant instruct them to shoot.

When Eckels inquires about this particular rule, he is astounded by the gravity of Travis' response. Travis insists that interrupting any of the natural processes in the past could have irreparable repercussions for the future. He draws out the example of killing one mouse and articulates the potential aftershocks of it: "Step on a mouse and you leave your print, like a Grand Canyon, across Eternity. Queen Elizabeth might never be born, Washington might not cross the Delaware, there might never be a United States at all" (4). Stepping on a mouse has a much broader reach than Eckels initially thought.

Together, the five of them depart on the path to find their prey. The Tyrannosaurus Rex has been carefully been scouted by Travis on a previous trip to the past, where he waited to see when one of the dinosaurs would die naturally and then timed the next hunting trip accordingly. In the case of this particular "monster," a tree limb was going to fall and kill it. Travis and Time Safari are very careful with leaving the past just as it was supposed to unfold. When they reach the clearing where the Tyrannosaurus is scheduled to appear, Eckels begins to have second thoughts, and he becomes increasingly more scared as the dinosaur comes into view. Eckels describes the encounter as, "a sound of thunder."

Eckels is paralyzed by fear, and Travis yells at him, telling him to go back to the time machine and wait for the others. Because Eckels was supposed to shoot first, he has now endangered the lives of the rest of the group, and Travis is furious with him. Dazed and confused, Eckels stumbles off of the Time Safari path and into the jungle, the grass giving way to his feet. Meanwhile, the rifles cracked furiously as the others tried to take down the giant beast. "Like a stone idol, like a mountain avalanche, Tyrannosaurus fell" (7). Caked in blood, the others return to the time machine, where they find Eckels shivering on the floor. He managed to find his way back to the time machine. They all hear a cracking sound - the tree branch has now fallen on top of the dinosaur as had been observed.

Upon seeing Eckels, Travis decrees that he cannot return to the future - he sees the mud on his boots and knows that he walked off the path. They have no idea how much damage Eckels has caused for future generations and species. Travis relents a bit though, and allows Eckels to return to the future as long as he removes the bullets from the monster's skull. Eckels returns drenched in blood and passes out immediately after returning the bullets to Travis. Travis is still outraged and threatens to kill Eckels, but ultimately they clean up and begin to travel back to present day.

When they exit the time machine, Travis anxiously checks in with the man behind the desk to see if everything is ok, and the man tells him it is. The man, however, is acting a bit differently than when they left for the safari, and Eckels notices a strange smell in the air. It's faint, but something is different. He looks around him trying to figure out what has changed. The immediate thing that he noticed had changed was the sign upon the wall. The words were spelled differently, and Eckels begins to panic, seeing firsthand the repercussions of his stroll off of the path. He sits down and inspects himself, particularly the bottoms of his shoes. "Embedded in the mud, glistening green and gold and black, was a butterfly, very beautiful and very dead." Panicked, he asks the man behind the desk who won the election the other day, and the man responds, "You joking? You know damn well. Deutscher, of course! Who else?" (11.) The death of the butterfly has resulted in the future being changed - a different man won the presidency of the United States, and people believe he will be a dictator. Eckels cries out in disbelief, begging to return to the past and somehow undo what he has done. He sits down with his eyes closed and senses Travis enter the room; Travis breathes loudly and takes the safety off of his rifle. Suddenly, all Eckels hears is a sound of thunder and he is dead.

In "A Sound of Thunder," Bradbury offers a poignant and effective interpretation of the dangers of time travel and possible ripple effects, highlighting our interconnectivity with one another. He also explores the connections between the past, present, and future, and he does it through vivid descriptions and gripping narrative.

Bradbury's prolific ability to paint a vivid picture shines in his description of Tyrannosaurus Rex, the prey that the hunters have come to kill. Metaphors fill his descriptions. The dinosaur has "watchmaker's claws," pistons for legs, and thighs of steel (6). It ran like a ballerina but loomed like an evil god. As effective as the metaphors are on their own, they are even more powerful when juxtaposed with one another as well as the more realistic descriptors of the dinosaur. Even though the reader has never seen a living Tyrannosaurus Rex, Bradbury's descriptions make it seem as if the dinosaur is standing directly in front of you.

The most powerful part of Bradbury's story is his articulation of the interconnectivity between the past, present, and future. Travis' tirade at the beginning of the story lays out the possible ripple effect which one ill-fated move can have on the future. Unfortunately, Eckels and the rest of the group realize this is indeed possible when they return after their trip. The death of a single butterfly has dramatically altered the world they once knew. The language has developed differently and an important presidential election was decided differently. It is a strong piece of advice to consider how your actions today can affect the future.

These connections are delicate and tenuous, further emphasized by the fact that the small butterfly had such a massive effect on the world. Even if we are aware of the potential ripple effects, we may not consider the fact that a small decision can make a big impact. This is both precautionary and empowering. While the potential for failure exists, the potential to make a positive difference is also present and real.

Bradbury's story is also a gripping environmentalist story. Not only are different time periods connected, but all living things are also a part of an interconnected world. His story helps us to see the importance of protecting the natural environment, which is an important issue in today's world.

Ray Bradbury: Short Stories Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Ray Bradbury: Short Stories is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

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Study Guide for Ray Bradbury: Short Stories

Ray Bradbury: Short Stories study guide contains a biography of Ray Bradbury, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis of select short stories.

• About Ray Bradbury: Short Stories
• Ray Bradbury: Short Stories Summary
• Character List

Essays for Ray Bradbury: Short Stories

Ray Bradbury: Short Stories essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of select short stories by Ray Bradbury.

• Ray Bradbury Hates Technology: Analyzing "The Pedestrian"
• "There Will Come Soft Rains": From Poem to Story
• Contextual Study of Science Fiction Texts, and Intertextual Ideas that Transcend Time: "The Pedestrian," "Harrison Bergeron," and Equilibrium
• The Power of Technology: Comparing "Rocket Summer," "There Will Come Soft Rains," and Fahrenheit 451
• “…The house shuddered, oak bone on bone, its bared skeleton …”:A Postmodern Reading of Ray Bradbury’s “The Will Come Soft Rains”

Lesson Plan for Ray Bradbury: Short Stories

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Ray Bradbury: Short Stories
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Ray Bradbury: Short Stories Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Ray Bradbury: Short Stories

• Introduction