Eckles is the main character in the story and as he wants to go through a time machine to kill a dinosaur, he doesn’t understand the importance of nature or how it can affect history. As the story develops, Eckles is getting a lesson on how even stepping on a mouse can lead to throwing the whole world off balance. He is taught that some of the most important things wouldn’t even exist. In the text it states, “With the death of that one caveman, a billion others yet unborn are throttled in the womb. Perhaps Rome never rises on its seven hills. Perhaps Europe is forever a dark forest, and only Asia waxes healthy and teeming. Step on a mouse and you crush the Pyramids. 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.” This shows that the author not only wanted to say that stepping on Nature can lead to bad things but he wanted to explain it and go into depth about the topic. He wants to explain to the reader the effects nature can cause and connect it to people and things that are well known to the reader. Another example the author uses is when in the text Eckles goes on the trail, he is lectured on how stepping on even 1 piece of grass can change the future of mankind. In the text it states, “Crushing certain plants could add up infinitesimally. A little error here would multiply in sixty million years, all out of proportion.” Like before, the author wants the reader to get a full grasp on what he is trying to explain in his story. Not only can animals through off history, but so can plants and even dirt.

After they shoot the dinosaur, Travis scorns Eckles and says he ruined history, The group goes back to the “Future.” Here, it was when Eckles noticed there was something wrong in the future. When Eckles goes back to the future he notices that the spelling is off. He looks down at his shoe and sees a dead butterfly. It was only then that he realized the effects of stepping off the path.” But the immediate thing was the sign painted on the office wall, the same sign he had read earlier today on first entering. Somehow, the sign had changed:

TYME SEFARI INC.

SEFARIS TU ANY YEER EN THE PAST. YU NAIM THE ANIMALL.

WEE TAEK YU THAIR.

YU SHOOT ITT.

Eckels felt himself fall into a chair. He fumbled crazily at the thick slime on his boots. He held up a clod of dirt, trembling, "No, it can't be. Not a little thing like that. No!" This shows the reader the effect of Eckles actions. Author wanted to show that by even stepping on a small butterfly, he threw off their entire system of learning. The author wants to show that well nature may not seem like a big thing to people, it has shaped our entire history and our future. In addition to the spelling off, Eckles asked who won the presidential election and realized the mindset of the people changed. They had different standards for what they looked for to guide them. “His face was cold. His mouth trembled, asking: "Who ​who won the presidential election yesterday?" The man behind the desk laughed. "You joking? You know very well. Deutscher, of course! Who else? Not that fool weakling Keith. We got an iron man now, a man with guts!" The official stopped. "What's wrong?" Eckels moaned. He dropped to his knees. He scrabbled at the golden butterfly with shaking fingers. "Can't we," he pleaded to the world, to himself, to the officials, to the Machine, "can't we take it back, can't we make it alive again? Can't we start over? Can't we​-“ The author wanted to show that nature has consequences in history. He showed that when he stepped on a butterfly he not only changed their way of learning but he also changed their way of thinking for themselves. I no longer wanted someone that would provide dumb educational standards and anything that had to do with education but they wanted someone with brute strength. It’s easy to say that because they stepped on a butterfly they brought back the future to the Stone Age mindset.