A Sound of Thunder by Frank Yao

Third phase

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:29:49 UTC

_______________ is the most interesting point of the story, and the point of no return. In this famous climax, poor Eckels __________the path and kills a ______________, therefore changing history completely.

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:29:49 UTC

“A Sound of Thunder” was written shortly after World War II and during the Cold War, a circumstance reflected in Bradbury’s concern about authoritarian rule. The United States, fresh from its conflict with Nazi Germany, now feared the expansion of the communist Soviet Union and the possibility of nuclear warfare. While it does not deal directly with nuclear politics, “A Sound of Thunder” does explore the ways in which new technology may exacerbate political dangers.

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:29:49 UTC

_______________is the events in the story leading to the climax. In this case, these are the events of traveling through time, learning how to hunt dinosaurs, and setting off on the specially marked path.

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:29:49 UTC

______________ is the part of the story where we are introduced to the characters, the setting, and the initial conflict. In this story, we learn that it is the year ______ and a company has created a way to travel through time. They use it to hunt dinosaurs. We are also introduced to _______, the protagonist, when he learns about this company. He meets his guide, Mr. __________, and his assistant Lesperance, who marked the path they need to stay on. There are two other hunters, Billings and Kramer. The initial setting is both 2055 and the time of the dinosaurs, and the conflict at first is to shoot a dinosaur without interfering in the past.

Key Facts about A Sound of Thunder

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:39:29 UTC

Full Title: A Sound of Thunder
When Written: 1952
Where Written: Los Angeles, California
When Published: June 28, 1952
Literary Period: Contemporary
Genre: Science fiction
Setting: The U.S. in the year 2055, and North America or an equivalent landmass in 60 million BC
Climax: The Tyrannosaurus Rex charges the hunting party and is shot while Eckels retreats off the path
Antagonist: Mr. Travis
Point of View: Third person limited

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:43:12 UTC

________________ is the events that go between the climax and the resolution, or ending. Usually these events are related to the events of the climax, and could not have happened otherwise. Travis is furious with Eckels, and berates him for stepping off the path.

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:43:25 UTC

_______________ is how the conflict is resolved. In this case, Travis shoots Eckels, we learn that words are spelled differently, and the man they didn’t want in office is president.

Eckels arives at the safari office

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:45:42 UTC

Eckels arrives at the safari office to go back in time and hunt dinosaurs.

The Machine

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:47:14 UTC

Eckels, the other hunters, and the safari leaders get into the time travel machine, and go back in time

They arrive

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:49:15 UTC

They arrive safely in the jungle teeming with dinosaurs, sixty million years before any of them existed.

The Butterfly Effect, explained

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:50:56 UTC

One of the safari leaders, Travis, explains why it is crucial to stay on the designated path that they have and to not step on anything else, because it could cause a chain of reactions that could utterly change the future.

the dinosaur

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:53:48 UTC

They spot the tyrannosaurus rex, marked with red paint. Bradbury described the beast in a way to make it seem like the reptilian god, very fierce.

Eckels freaks out

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:57:15 UTC

When Eckels sees the dinosaur, he freaks out and can't do it. He wants to leave, so he is told to walk back to the time machine and wait there, but he freaks out and runs off the path, through the forest back to the machine.

They kill the dinosaur

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:57:59 UTC

As Eckel runs off, the other hunters and safari leaders kill the massive dinosaur minutes before it would have died anyways.

They head back

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:58:45 UTC

The group killed the dinosaur, and when they get back to the machine Eckel is there, and Travis blows up on him. He makes Eckels go and fish all the bullets out of the dead dinosaurs head as his ticket to be allowed to get back home.

Back home

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 05:59:43 UTC

They return back to their time, and something is different. The language, everything is spelled differently, and someone else won the presidential election than when they originally left. All these changes were due to the butterfly effect which started when Eckels stepped on a butterfly when he ran off the path

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 06:00:48 UTC

This story reminds us of an idea called the “Butterfly Effect.” The Butterfly Effect states that a very small event can have large unintended consequences. In the story, Eckels is warned never to step off the path, because they can only hunt animals that are already about to be killed if nature runs its course.

It floats six inches above the earth. Doesn't touch so much as one grass blade, flower, or tree. It's an antigravity metal. Its purpose is to keep you from touching this world of the past in any way.

This little bit of foreshadowing, the insistence that he stay on the path, is directly related to the theme. When you step off the path, something happens that you do not intend. You can affect the entire course of the future, just by stepping on a butterfly.

"Not a little thing like that! Not a butterfly!" cried Eckels.

By stepping on the butterfly, Eckels altered the path of history such that the spelling on the sign was changed and a new man was elected president.

We probably won’t go time traveling in our lifetime, but this is still a relevant theme. Sometimes a little thing can make a big difference. One small choice, although it may seem minor, can affect not only the course of your future but others as well.

Personification - _______________________________________

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 06:03:16 UTC

· e.g. "The Machine howled....The Machine slowed; its scream fell to a murmur. "Time steps aside."

simile - __________________________________.

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 06:03:33 UTC

· e.g. Eckels remarks on going back in time to hunt, "This makes Africa seem like Illinois" "Time steps aside (personification). Like (simile) an airplane hitting an air pocket." "I'm shaking like a kid." "There was a sound like a gigantic bonfire." "...like golden slamanders, the old years, the green years (also a metaphor for early years), might leap."

metaphor - ___________________________

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 06:04:38 UTC

The jungle was the entire world forever and forever." ·"...pterodactyls soaring with cavernous gray wings, gigantic bats of delirium and night fever. "A sound of thunder" = the T-Rex. "the seed death, the green death,..." "Trees exploded in clouds of leaf and branch." "The Monster twitches its jeweler's hands down..."

alliteration - -_______________________________________

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 06:06:00 UTC

· e.g. " ...glistening green and gold and...." /g/

double entendre - ____________________________________

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 06:06:27 UTC

e.g. "A sound of thunder" first means the sound of the dinosaur's step; then it means the firing of the rifle that kills Eckels.

The final sound of thunder

yao199558 — 2023-05-11 06:08:41 UTC

The sound of thunder is used to indicate when something intense is about to happen, or when someone or something is going to die. After they get back and realize that Eckels messed up the future, it says "there was the sound of thunder" after Eckels hears Travis readying his gun to shoot him.

Timeline of the story

yao199558 — 2024-06-19 00:23:50 UTC

Create a timeline based on how the story unfolds.

Try use "passive voice" and "reported speech"

Comic strips

yao199558 — 2024-06-19 00:25:40 UTC

Create comic strips of your own/group on some particular and sequential scenes. Colors are not necessarily needed.

Character analysis (poster)

yao199558 — 2024-06-19 06:00:03 UTC

Do an in-depth analysis of Eckels the protagonist (title/quotes/character traits/theme)

Time travel theories

yao199558 — 2024-06-19 06:02:36 UTC

research on time travel theories and report to the class.