Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" is a short story about the dangers of technology, and the necessity of ecological consciousness. The short story uses powerful imagery and metaphors to drive home its central points of the consequences of mankind's meddling with nature. The leitmotif of the short story, the so-called butterfly effect, leads the reader to a deeper understanding of the story's meaning -- as well as mankind's vain and ignorant struggle to conquer his environment, at any cost.
The butterfly effect was first discovered in 1961 by meteorologist and mathematician, Konrad Lorenz. As a part of a weather prediction, Lorenz discovered that the most infinitesimal change in a system could be amplified over a short period of time, causing huge disturbances in weather patterns. For example, Lorenz posited that the flapping of a butterfly's wings -- a very subtle phenomenon -- could ripple and have a sizeable impact on weather outcomes and patterns, potentially causing a hurricane in the Atlantic. This insight is a now a large part of chaos theory, and suggests that small, initial causes can have huge effects over a given period of time, given the right conditions (fractalfoundation.org, 2014).
In "A Sound of Thunder," Eckels brings back a squashed butterfly on his boot from the men's hunting expedition during the Mesozoic Era -- about 65 million years in the past. However, when the men return to the future, everything has changed, even the man who had been elected President during their safari time travel trip. Travis, who had warned Eckels about his lack of caution, shoots and kills Eckels -- the final "sound of thunder". Just as in Lorenz's weather predictions, something as seemingly unimportant as a dead butterfly created a cosmic time ripple which had the effect of changing things to an exponential degree over the course of millions of years. Yet, Travis's warnings to Eckels went unheeded. Once Travis took aim with his rifle, it was already too late, as the butterfly effect was already in motion. Now, something so small as the dead butterfly brought back on the time travel machine resulted in Eckels' getting shot.
Thus, a seemingly innocuous event (accidentally killing a butterfly) has repercussions that ripple through time -- back to the future -- to 2055. No one knew what the consequences of Eckels' actions would be, including Travis. From "A Sound of Thunder": "He held up a clod of dirt, trembling, 'No, it can't be. Not a little thing like that. No!'" (Bradbury 236). However, the smallest cause rippled throughout the space-time continuum. In fact, no one knew what the consequences of such a "little" thing would be, but the hunters had been forewarned that not much was known about time travel technology.
Clearly, Bradbury's message in his short story is also a commentary on humanity's rapid technological advancement on present-day earth. As one can see, the ripple-like repercussions have proved to be great thus far, repercussions that include air and water pollution, genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), nuclear weapons, as well as chemical and biological weapons. Somehow, technology has advanced to the point that no one -- including the "experts" -- know what consequences are in store for us on a global scale, if it is actually used. This is analogous to Eckels and the rest of the safari party's dilemma when Eckels steps off the metal Path. When Eckels steps off the Path -- as humanity has done, Bradbury implies -- the consequences far into the future are devastating -- so devastating that Eckels would have been better off staying behind when the other hunters returned to the year 2055.
A dictatorial, tyrannical president is elected. Language changes, and Eckels must be shot to (hopefully) restore the world to some sort of order, to restore the world to the way it used to be. But, it may be too late, as the butterfly is killed. Not only was the butterfly killed, Eckels brought it back to the future. He broke the government's rules by stepping off the Path, and the unintended consequences of his blood lust for the Tyrannosaurus.
Bradbury used the hunters as a metaphor for mankind, as well. Man has "hunted" the most precious species on the planet -- from wolves to lions and tigers -- to extinction or near-extinction. Yet, no one knows what the consequences of the extinction of animal species will be. Just as the Tyrannosaurus Rex was hunted down for the thrill of sport, many animals are currently hunted for sport. For example, what will be the consequences of hunting elephants for the ivory for their tusks fifty years from now? A century from now? Bradbury raises all these questions by using the butterfly effect as the leitmotif of the story.
According to the butterfly effect, even such possible calamities as global warming could be made far more severe by something so minute as letting one's car run while idling. Overall, man is ignorant of how his technology will affect the environment, and Bradbury the environmentalist shows just how ignorant we are in "A Sound of Thunder" -- when the hunting party shoots down what Bradbury paints as a beautiful animal -- the Tyrannosaurus Rex. "It ran with a gliding ballet step, far too poised and balanced for its ten tons. It moved into a sunlit arena warily, its beautifully reptilian hands feeling the air" (Bradbury 230). Although the Tyrannosaurus Rex is perhaps the most-predatory, bloodthirsty dinosaur that one can possibly imagine, Bradbury paints the ancient reptile as something beautiful to behold. However, the hunters are oblivious to its beauty. They only want a trophy kill. Like humanity in general, the hunters do not perceive the hunted as an integral part of the environment. Instead, their prerogatives are more important and their self-centeredness is made evident by Bradbury. His commentary on the sport of hunting is a dominant theme in the short story. For all the safari hunters knew, they just might have eliminated the last dinosaur, bringing about their total extinction. After all, they are ignorant to an experiment that they should have never tried anyway -- traveling back in time. Just as man's world of high-tech, planned obsolescence, consumerism, and quick disposability has its repercussions, so does the killing of one dinosaur 65 million years ago by a misguided hunting party. Yet, once they realize the futility of killing the "evil beast," they proceed anyway. "'It can't be killed.' Eckels pronounced this verdict quietly, as if there could be no argument. He had weighed the evidence and this was his considered opinion. The rifle in his hands seemed a cap gun. 'We were fools to come. This is impossible'" (Bradbury 230). However, the hunters persist, and get their kill. Bradbury connotes that mankind is also persistent -- albeit ignorant -- in the face of its battle against the natural elements, a battle that inevitably results in our own downfall, just as it resulted in an off-kilter, imbalanced world in Bradbury's work.
The world is so off-kilter when the party returns to 2055 that language has changed, and a different presidential candidate -- the "tyrant" Deutscher -- is elected (timetravelreviews.com, 2004). The world of 2055 seems the same, but it does not resemble the world before the hunters traveled to the past in the time machine. "Eckels stood smelling of the air, and there was a thing to the air, a chemical taint so subtle, so slight, that only a faint cry of his subliminal senses warned him it was there. The colors, white, gray, blue, orange, in the wall, in the furniture, in the sky beyond the window, werewereAnd there was a feel" (Bradley 235). Thus, the immediate environment around the time travelers had become topsy-turvy. Eckels intuitively realizes that his environment has changed, but does not recognize that this change is due to his walking off the metal Path, and inadvertently killing a butterfly -- yet the minute change affects everything. "It fell to the floor, an exquisite thing, a small thing that could upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes and then big dominoes and then gigantic dominoes, all down the years across timeIt couldn't change things. Killing one butterfly couldn't be that important! Could it?" (Bradbury 236). However, killing the one butterfly had a domino effect, just as manufacturing one gasoline-powered automobile could affect our current environment -- or killing one elephant for its tusks could wreak havoc down the road.
Bradbury is also trying to say that present generations behave as if their actions do not have any effect or consequences on the generations that follow them (worldofteaching.com, 2014). The main characters never mention the effect of their wayward actions on future generations. Instead, they are only concerned about themselves. When Eckels steps off the anti-gravity metal Path, Travis only mentions that the government may make the hunters pay money for insurance. Their concern about future generations, and the consequences of their actions on civilization are never mentioned. Their self-centeredness and ignorance are blatant.
For Bradbury, advanced technology is something that humanity is too ignorant to tinker with -- especially time machines. The hunters do not realize that they are, figuratively speaking, opening up a can of worms, because of their desire to travel back in time for their much-desired hunting experience. Even the government approves of this sort of technology because there is something to be gained from it, in terms of taxation. There is no mention of a concerned, socially and environmentally-responsible government in the short story. Like everyone else, the hunters proceed on their merry way (with government approval), but make a fatal mistake when politics itself is changed by the abrupt end of a butterfly's lifecycle.
Thus, Eckels' unconscious and neglectful actions towards the environment result in a political regime that will have dire consequences for society. However, there is no starting over. It is far too late in the game to change the negative effects that civilization's technology has had on the environment. Ultimately, the ripple of effects take hold on Eckels' very own life, as Travis raises the rifle towards Eckels, shooting him down, creating yet another sound of thunder. This time, it is Travis's ignorance that leads to further acts of violence. Bradbury's commentary on man's tendency towards violence is stark and revealing. Again, violence against Eckels could precipitate another wave of unwanted effects -- consequences that do not bode well for Travis. Certainly, he will never be allowed to hunt again in the past, and he may also be tried for murder.
Bradbury's insights into the repercussions of the butterfly effect and its consequences for future generations are insightful, and as applicable as ever. Mankind does not have to travel to the past to see the how the ripples created by the butterfly effect have a disastrous effect on the environment, as well as disrupting and irreversibly changing the course of civilization itself. The story is enough to make the reader pause and reflect: which effects of events that occurred in the past are we being forced to deal with right now? Furthermore, what minute changes are happening right now that generations in the future will experience on a magnified level, events that could alter the course of civilization forever. Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" leaves a lot of questions for the reader to ponder, as does the work of Lorenz. It behooves humanity to stop and act with caution about how the uses of its technology.
Works Cited
A Sound of Thunder. (n.d.). WorldofTeaching.com.
Bradbury, Ray. (1952). "A Sound of Thunder." (n.p.).
Time Travel Short Story Review. (n.d.). timetravelreviews.com.
What is Chaos Theory? (n.d.). Fractalfoundation.org.
