| Revision as of 15:59, 26 September 2017 editUsernamekiran (AWB) (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers23,009 editsm (HG) (3.3.0)Tag: Huggle← Previous edit | Revision as of 23:36, 27 September 2017 edit undo47.221.146.72 (talk) →Plot summaryTag: repeating charactersNext edit → | ||
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| ==Plot summary== | ==Plot summary== | ||
| In the year 2055, time travel has become a practical reality, and the company Time Safari Inc. offers wealthy adventurers the chance to travel back in time to hunt extinct species such as dinosaurs. A hunter named Eckels pays $10,000 to join a hunting party that will travel back 65 million years to the ] period, on a guided safari to kill a '']''. As the party waits to depart, they discuss the recent presidential elections in which an apparently fascist |
In the year 2055, time travel has become a practical reality, and the company Time Safari Inc. offers wealthy adventurers the chance to travel back in time to hunt extinct species such as dinosaurs. A hunter named Eckels pays $10,000 to join a hunting party that will travel back 65 million years to the ] period, on a guided safari to kill a '']''. As the party waits to depart, they discuss the recent presidential elections in which an apparently fascist dahoihl hf no one cares | ||
| 1shgweduggfpqgpigquigri qrf rfqgir fqyf9 ry qfi gfq fqyrfyuifiyref rf f efref r re iierh f yihuithe the the thev the tghe the the the th e the the the thr th | |||
| Although Eckels is initially excited about the hunt, when the monstrous ''Tyrannosaur'' approaches, he loses his nerve. Travis tells him he cannot leave, but Eckels panics, steps off the path and runs into the forest. Eckels hears shots, and on his return he sees that the two guides have killed the dinosaur, and shortly afterward the falling tree that would have killed the ''T. rex'' has landed on top of it. Realizing that Eckels has fallen off the path, Travis threatens to leave him in the past unless he removes the bullets from the dinosaur's body, as they cannot be left behind. Eckels obeys, but Travis remains furious, threatening on the return trip to shoot him. | |||
| Upon returning to 2055, Eckels notices subtle changes – English words are now spelled and spoken strangely, people behave differently, and Eckels discovers that Deutscher has won the election instead of Keith. Looking at the mud on his boots, Eckels finds a crushed butterfly, whose death has apparently set in motion a series of subtle changes that have affected the nature of the alternative present to which the safari has returned. He frantically pleads with Travis to take him back into the past to undo the damage, but Travis had previously explained that the time machine cannot return to any point in time that it has already visited (so as to prevent any paradoxes). Travis raises his gun, and there is "a sound of thunder". | |||
| ==Adaptations== | ==Adaptations== | ||
Revision as of 23:36, 27 September 2017
This article is about the short story by Ray Bradbury. For other uses, see Sound of Thunder (disambiguation). | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "A Sound of Thunder" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| "A Sound of Thunder" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Ray Bradbury | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction short story |
| Publication | |
"A Sound of Thunder" is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Collier's magazine in the June 28, 1952, issue and Bradbury's collection The Golden Apples of the Sun in 1953.
Plot summary
In the year 2055, time travel has become a practical reality, and the company Time Safari Inc. offers wealthy adventurers the chance to travel back in time to hunt extinct species such as dinosaurs. A hunter named Eckels pays $10,000 to join a hunting party that will travel back 65 million years to the Late Cretaceous period, on a guided safari to kill a Tyrannosaurus rex. As the party waits to depart, they discuss the recent presidential elections in which an apparently fascist dahoihl hf no one cares 1shgweduggfpqgpigquigri qrf rfqgir fqyf9 ry qfi gfq fqyrfyuifiyref rf f efref r re iierh f yihuithe the the thev the tghe the the the th e the the the thr th
Adaptations
The story was aired on The Ray Bradbury Theater on October 8, 1989.
A film adaptation starring Ben Kingsley, Edward Burns and Catherine McCormack was released in 2005. Roger Ebert stated that while he "cannot endorse it, can appreciate it" as a film that is bad because it "want so much to be terrific that explode under the strain."
A Game Boy Advance video game based on the film was also released. It was finished in time for the film's planned 2003 release, delayed along with it and ultimately released in February 2005. Planned console ports were cancelled.
The story was parodied in the Time and Punishment section of The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror V".
Influence
"A Sound of Thunder" is often miscredited as the origin of the term "butterfly effect", a concept of chaos theory in which the flapping of a butterfly's wings in one part of the world could create a hurricane on the opposite side of the globe. The term was actually introduced by meteorologist Edward Norton Lorenz in the 1960s. However, Bradbury's concept of how the death of a butterfly in the past could have drastic changes in the future is a representation of the butterfly effect, and used as an example of how to consider chaos theory and the physics of time travel.
References
- Birx, H. James (2009-01-13). Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture. Sage Publications. pp. 109–. ISBN 9781412941648. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- "The Ray Bradbury Theater - Season 4, Episode 6: A Sound of Thunder". TV.com. 2007-05-22. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (2013-02-05). Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2007. Andrews McMeel Publishing. pp. 648–. ISBN 9780740792199. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- "A Sound of Thunder - IGN". Ca.ign.com. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
- Rogers, Brett M.; Stevens, Benjamin Eldon (2015-02-09). Classical Traditions in Science Fiction. Oxford University Press. pp. 322–. ISBN 9780190228330. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- Flam, Faye (2012-06-15). "The Physics of Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder"". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
Further reading
Listen to this article(2 parts, 4 minutes)
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- Patai, Daphne (2013). "Ray Bradbury And The Assault On Free Thought". Society. 50 (1): 41–47. doi:10.1007/s12115-012-9617-x.
- Paradowski, Robert J. "Ray Bradbury." Critical Survey Of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-9. Literary Reference Center.
- Weller, Sam. The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury. New York: William Morrow, 2005.
- Holmes, Neil. "Fateful butterfly." New Scientist 182.2443 (2004): 31. Academic OneFile.
External links
- A Sound of Thunder title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database