A Sound of Thunder

Bradbury

1. A Sound of Thunder
by Ray Bradbury

2. A Sound of Thunder
by Ray Bradbury
Who controls the past controls the future.
—George Orwell

3. A Sound of Thunder
Introducing the Story
It’s the year 2055. Eckels, a wealthy hunter,
wants to travel back in time to shoot a ferocious
dinosaur. But he gets in over his head when he
books passage with Time Safari, Inc.
•This story explores the possibility that even tiny
changes to the environment of the past can
drastically alter the future.

4. T-rex lived during the late Cretaceous Period. What
other life forms were around then?
insects similar
to today’s
marine
invertebrates
A Sound of Thunder
Introducing the Story
[End of Section]
the first
flowering plants

5. Style—the particular way a writer uses language.
A Sound of Thunder
Literary Focus: Style
•Style is also created through the sentence
patterns writers use. Sentences can be short or
long, simple or complicated.
•Writers use diction, or word choice, to create
style. For example, some writers use long,
elegant words; others prefer shorter, everyday
words.

6. A Sound of Thunder
Literary Focus: Style
The use of vivid images and figurative
language often plays a part in a writer’s style.
•Images—words and phrases that appeal to
the senses.
•Figurative language—imaginative
comparisons between seemingly unlike things.

7. Ray Bradbury tells this science-fiction story in a
lush style.
A Sound of Thunder
Literary Focus: Style
•The setting and the figurative
language shape a tense and
suspenseful mood, or
atmosphere.
•He uses vivid images
and imaginative figurative
language to create an exotic
setting.

8. As you read “A Sound of Thunder,” notice the
elements of Bradbury’s style.
A Sound of Thunder
Literary Focus: Style
•Images: Which of your senses do they appeal
to? What feelings do they evoke for you?
•Diction and sentence patterns: How do they
create a distinctive writing style?
•Figurative language: How does it help create
the setting? the mood?
[End of Section]

9. The events in a plot are interconnected, like
links in a chain: One cause leads to an effect,
which causes another effect, and so on.
A Sound of Thunder
Reading Skills: Cause and Effect
A power outage
occurs at
2:30 A.M.
Cause
Valeria’s alarm
does not go off.
Effect
Valeria’s alarm
does not go off.
Cause
Valeria is late
For school.
Effect

10. The plot of “A Sound of Thunder” is based
on a theoretical cause-and-effect chain that might
look something like this:
A Sound of Thunder
Reading Skills: Cause and Effect
Time-traveling
human steps on
butterfly in past.
This butterfly
does not pass
on its genes
Butterflies and
the ecosystem
is altered.
Humans evolve
in different
environment.
Modern
civilization
is altered.
[End of Section]

11. The Butterfly Effect
A cause and
effect theory: a
very small event
can cause
catastrophic
change.
For example: a
butterfly beating
its wings in the USA
can cause a
tsunami in Japan
a week later.

12. Primary Characters
•Eckles: main character/ hunter/
arrogant.
•Travis: safari guide/ visionary leader.
•Butterfly: the cause of change/
green, gold, black and beautiful.

13. Secondary Characters
•Lesperance (hope): safari guide.
•Billing: hunter accompanying the group of Eckels
•Kramer: hunter also accompanying the group.
•Deutscher: politician/ruthless/ president after the
butterfly effect.
•Keith: politician/ kind and caring/ president before
the journey to the past.
•History: changes at the end.

14. Themes
•Small things can have a big impact on future.
• Technological advances can cause humanity a lot
of problems if we don’t use it right.
• Humans should not play with the course of
nature, it can have catastrophic results.
• Rich people are often spoiled, and tend to think
they own everything.
• Following instructions is crucial.
• Every single thing in the in the world exist for a
reason.

15. Symbolism
•Time machine- represents the technology
driven society which Ray Bradbury criticize.
Technology is dangerous and people are
not careful with it.
•Butterfly- represents the effect that a
simple change in the past has on the
future.
•The sound of thunder- it could symbolize a
warning. It appears in the story when the
dinosaur roared.

16. Characterization
•Eckels represents a spoiled rich person. He
spends his money without care and thinks
that money can buy him both safety and
courage.
•Do you know people in society like that?
Think of examples.
•When people think they are invincible, they
become careless and dangerous.

17. Constructed Response
How does Ray
Bradbury’s
manipulate the
setting to add to the
mood of the story?
Make sure that you
identify the setting &
the mood at the
beginning, the
middle, and the end.
How do those settings
take a part in
enforcing the moods?

18. Constructed Response Answer
The setting changes in subtle ways: faint smells,
colors slightly wrong, words spelled strangely all
contribute to the mood. At the beginning of
the story, 2055, Eckles is leaving America to go
back in time to hunt dinosaurs. In the safari
office the mood is anxious, but at the same time
excited. Once Eckles & his group reaches 55
million years ago, the mood changes. Upon
seeing the T-Rex, Eckles cowers reflecting the
frantic mood. At the end, Eckles gets back to
2055 where the setting has changed slightly
giving the reader an uneasy mood. When
Eckles sees the dead butterfly, the mood
drastically changes to one of desolation &
hopelessness. Every aspect of this setting
evokes the mood of this short story.