A Sound of Thunder

A Sound of Thunder - Transcript

by Ray Bradbury by

A Sound of Thunder
Meet the Writer
Most noted for his short stories Ray Bradbury has also written novels children s books plays screenplays television scripts and poetry His vivid imagination lively style and social commentary have set him apart in the world of fantasy and science fiction writers Bradbury was born in Waukegan Illinois in 1920 His family moved to Los Angeles in 1934 He became interested in books and writing early in life

Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury Ray
Ray Bradbury is one of those rare individuals whose writing has changed the way people think His more than five hundred published works short stories novels plays screenplays television scripts and verse exemplify the American imagination at its most creative Once read his words are never forgotten His best known and most beloved books The Martian Chronicles The Illustrated Man Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes are masterworks that readers carry with them over a lifetime His timeless constant appeal to audiences young and old has proven him to be one of the truly classic authors of the 20th Century and the 21st In recognition of his stature in the world of literature and the impact he has had on so many for so many years Bradbury was awarded the National Book Foundation s 2000 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the National Medal of Arts in 2004

Ray Bradbury Ray
Ray Bradbury calls himself a teller of tales and a magic realist He also claims to remember everything every book he s ever read every movie he s seen all the events of his life back to and including his birth in Waukegan Illinois on August 22 1920 All those memories and a big imagination are the materials for the fiction and poetry he s been publishing for more than fifty years

Ray Bradbury Ray
Bradbury s work is full of childhood imaginings Bradbury s fantasies and nightmares portraits of Venus and Mars time travel ageless children neverand ending rains but Bradbury the grown up is a ending concerned citizen concerned His fantasy stories are often warnings against His blind faith in science but they re optimistic By giving strange twists to everyday objects and events Bradbury challenges his readers to look at them as if for the first time As a writer he lets readers see science through the excited years of children but he also informs suggesting ways to use technology more responsibly use

Genre Genre
A genre is a category or type of literature such as fiction or poetry Each genre can be subdivided into more specific categories that can be identified by subject matter content or style Identifying the genre of a selection helps a reader to establish expectations for the work Readers can understand the genre of a literary work by analyzing its characteristics As you read A Sound of Thunder notice the clues that reveal the common elements of science fiction

Elements of Science Fiction Elements
Damon Knight author editor critic and founder of the Damon Science Fiction Writers of America once attempted to quantify the elements of science fiction quantify He came up with the following list derived from a He number of previously published formal definitions of science fiction science






science science technology and invention technology the future and the remote past including all time travel the stories extrapolation speculation based on signs or omens scientific method scientific other places planets dimensions etc including visitors other from the above catastrophes natural or manmade catastrophes

Damon Knight

Knight concluded that a story with at least three of the above elements is generally perceived to be science fiction stories with two elements were borderline stories with one or no elements were not science fiction stories

Science Fiction Science
Although the term s cience fiction was not used until about 1930 science fiction tales have been told since before the invention of writing One of the earliest science fiction writers was Lucian of Samosata who around 100 BC wrote a fantasy about a journey to the moon Modern science fiction began to take shape in the nineteenth century

Science Fiction Science
Science fiction is defined loosely as fiction that deals with the impact of science and technology on the world Sometimes the technology is real sometimes it is entirely imagined and sometimes it has been imagined by an author and then brought to reality by scientists Science fiction themes

A Sound of Thunder Sound
by Ray Bradbury
Who controls the past controls the future
George Orwell

A Sound of Thunder Sound
In the following short story Ray Bradbury implies that seemingly insignificant actions can change the future for an entire generation Before you read the story think about the following questions




How might your actions during your lifetime affect someone living one hundred years in the future Do you believe that you have a responsibility to future generations

A Sound of Thunder Sound
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

Introducing the Story

Tyrannosaurus Rex Tyrannosaurus
The Tyrannosaurus rex lived during the late Cretaceous Period between 97 The and 66 million years ago Scientists estimate its length at about 40 to 50 feet its height at about 15 to 20 feet and its weight at about 5 to 7 tons feet The dinosaur s open mouth revealed frighteningly sharp six inch long teeth The with serrated edges

A Sound of Thunder
Introducing the Story
T rex lived during the late Cretaceous Period What other life forms were around then
insects similar to today s

the first flowering plants

marine invertebrates

A Sound of Thunder
Literary Focus Style
Ray Bradbury tells this science fiction story in a lush style He uses vivid images and imaginative figurative language to create an exotic setting The setting and the figurative language shape a tense and suspenseful mood or atmosphere

A Sound of Thunder
Literary Focus Style
As you read A Sound of Thunder notice the elements of Bradbury s style Diction and sentence patterns How do they create a distinctive writing style Images Which of your senses do they appeal to What feelings do they evoke for you Figurative language How does it help create the setting the mood

A Sound of Thunder
Reading Skills Cause and Effect
The plot of A Sound of Thunder is based on a theoretical cause and effect chain that might look something like this
Time traveling human steps on butterfly in past Butterfly population declines Entire ecosystem is upset

Humans evolve in different environment

Modern civilization is altered

A Sound of Thunder Sound
Summary
This science fiction story begins in the year 2055 This the day after an election in which Keith a democrat wins out over Deutscher a fascist Time travel is possible and Eckels a wealthy hunter goes goes on a prehistoric safari to shoot a dinosaur As Eckels s party travels back in time Travis the leader warns the hunters not to stray from a prelaid anti gravity Path theorizing that the minutest damage to the environment could have serious reverberations for the future serious

A Sound of Thunder Sound
Summary
Even the tyrannosaur they are going to shoot is chosen Even because it would have died minutes later anyway When the time comes to make the kill Eckels panics and runs away stumbling off the Path Travis is furious After the party returns to 2055 Eckels senses that things are subtly different He then discovers a dead butterfly on the sole of his shoe After on After finding out that now Deutscher has triumphed over After Keith Eckels realizes the magnitude of his actions he has changed the course of his country s history The story s climax comes when Travis shoots Eckels story s

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