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A Sound of Thunderby Ray Bradbury
A Sound of Thunderby Ray Bradbury
Who controls the past controls the future. —George Orwell
A Sound of ThunderIntroducing 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.
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 ThunderIntroducing the Story
[End of Section]
the first flowering plants
Style—the particular way a writer uses language.
A Sound of ThunderLiterary 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.
A Sound of ThunderLiterary 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.
Ray Bradbury tells this science-fiction story in a lush style.
A Sound of ThunderLiterary 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.
As you read “A Sound of Thunder,” notice the elements of Bradbury’s style.
A Sound of ThunderLiterary 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]
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 ThunderReading Skills: Cause and Effect
A power outage occurs at 2:30 A.M.
Cause
Valeria’s alarmdoes not go off.
Effect
Valeria’s alarmdoes not go off.
CauseValeria is late For school.
Effect
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 ThunderReading Skills: Cause and Effect
Time-travelinghuman steps on butterfly in past.
This butterflydoes not pass on its genes
Butterflies and the ecosystemis altered.
Humans evolvein differentenvironment.
Moderncivilization is altered.
[End of Section]
The Butterfly EffectA 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.
Primary Characters
•Eckles: main character/ hunter/ arrogant.
•Travis: safari guide/ visionary leader. •Butterfly: the cause of change/ green, gold, black and beautiful.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Constructed Response AnswerThe 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.
