A Sound of Thunder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the film adaptation, see A Sound of Thunder (film), and for the video game adaptation of the film, see A Sound of Thunder (video game).
“A Sound of Thunder” is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Collier’s magazine in 1952. It was reprinted in his collections The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953), R is for Rocket (1962), The Stories of Ray Bradbury (1980), Dinosaur Tales (1983) and A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories (2005). It was later reprinted in The Young Oxford Book of Timewarp Stories. The Locus Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections lists it as the first of the top ten most republished science fiction stories [1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
This well-known story about time travel revolves around a business called Time Safari, Inc. Time Safari promises to take people back in time so they can hunt prehistoric animals, such as a Tyrannosaurus rex. In order to avoid a time paradox, they are very careful to leave history undisturbed on the principle that even the slightest change can cause major changes in the future. Travellers are only allowed to shoot animals that are already about to die, and they are required to stay on a path which hovers slightly above the ground. Hunting trophies are not taken; no souvenir is allowed except a photograph of the hunter standing next to the dead monster.
[edit] Plot summary
In the story, a hunter simply known as “Eckels” is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime: to travel back into the past on a prehistoric safari and kill a Tyrannosaurus rex. As the participants wait to depart, they chat about the recent presidential elections, in which an apparently fascist candidate, Deutscher, has just been defeated by the more moderate Keith, to the relief of many people. After the party arrives in the past, Eckels is warned about the necessity of minimizing their effect on events when they go back, since tiny alterations to the distant past could snowball into catastrophic changes in history.
Despite his earlier eagerness to begin the hunt, Eckels loses his nerve at the sight of the tyrannosaur. Travis, his guide, tells him he can leave, but Eckels panics and veers off the path. The two guides kill the dinosaur, and shortly afterward, the tree that would have killed the dinosaur in the absence of human intervention falls on the corpse. Travis' elation quickly changes to fury when they find Eckels and see his muddy boots, which prove he went off the path. Travis threatens to leave Eckels in the past unless Eckels removes the bullets from the dinosaur’s body, as they can’t be left in the past.
Upon returning to the present, Eckels notices subtle changes. English words are now spelled strangely, people and buildings are different, and, worst of all, Deutscher has won the election instead of Keith. Looking at his boots, Eckels finds a crushed butterfly, whose death was apparently the cause of the changes. He pleads to Travis to take him back into the past to undo the damage, but Travis refuses and fires his rifle. It is left untold what he shoots, although it is presumed that he kills Eckels. The dark ending reveals the meaning of the title—the story’s final words are, “There was a sound of thunder.”
[edit] Meaning
The story is a fictional exploration of the principle in chaos theory which later came to be called the Butterfly Effect (or “sensitive dependence upon initial conditions,” in the words of Edward Lorenz) through the literary device of time travel. Although both the story and the scientific principle use a butterfly as an example of a seemingly insignificant thing whose actions can ultimately lead to vast differences in outcomes, there is no evidence that one directly influenced the other. Bradbury's story pre-dates Lorenz's work by nearly 10 years. The two examples refer to different phenomena: changes in weather patterns caused by tiny disturbances introduced by a butterfly flapping its wings in one case, and the effects of killing an organism on the course of history via time travel. Furthermore, Lorenz's initial example was that of a seagull flapping its wings, which he changed to a butterfly later.
[edit] Novelized Sequels: "Dinosaur World"
A series of six novels were written in the mid-90's based on the short story. The author of the series is Stephen Leigh. First publications by Avon Books: May 1992 (Dinosaur World), February 1993 (Dinosaur Planet), November 1993 (Dinosaur Samurai, with John J. Miller), June 1994 (Dinosaur Warriors), March 1995 (Dinosaur Empire, with John J. Miller), and October 1995 (Dinosaur Conquest). The books are sold as "Ray Bradbury Presents ..." "A Sound of Thunder" is reproduced in "Dinosaur Planet."
[edit] Adaptations
- An episode of The Ray Bradbury Theater featured this story.
- The story was again adapted in comic form by Richard Corben with The Best of Ray Bradbury: The Graphic Novel. ISBN 1-59687-816-9.
- The EC comic book Weird Science-Fantasy published an adaptation in 1954, illustrated by Al Williamson.
- The 2005 film A Sound of Thunder is loosely based on this story, continuing where Bradbury ended. This movie was originally slated to appear in 2002, but flooding on location postponed the production.
[edit] References
[edit] Story
- Full illustrated text
- The Stories of Ray Bradbury (ISBN 0-394-51335-5), which includes the story.
- Bradbury 13 Audio Version Information
- “A Sound of Thunder,” Review and Analysis
