The Chosen Path In 'A Sound Of Thunder'

The Chosen Path In the short story, "A Sound of Thunder" a man named Eckels tests the delicacy of life while traveling back in time to hunt the most ferocious predator to ever walk the planet. Ray Bradbury develops the theme that every choice made has an effect so we must be cautious of our actions in times of confidence, fear and guilt. Eckels is a young man, determined to hunt for his biggest catch yet and he enters TIME SAFARI INC. hoping they can give him the thrill he's been looking for. He has hunted many things like tigers, wild boars and elephants but has never hunted something like this. In his excitement he, "waved a check for ten thousand dollars to the man behind the desk" and was ready for his safari (Bradbury 1). He showed confidence

He made the choice to hide when he was afraid and stepped on a butterfly while fleeing. They returned to the time machine and arrived in present time but Eckels noticed something odd about the area and his body "screamed in silence" as he pondered what he had changed from stepping off the path (9). Every choice Eckels has ever made led up to this point in his life and then he saw the sign, ”TYME SERFARI INC" (10). He felt the guilt inside of him as he pulled a lifeless butterfly off of his shoe. The butterfly was a symbol for life and how delicate it is. By stepping on one butterfly he eliminated generations of butterflies and as a result, changed the future. Eckels begs Travis to fix the damage and start over but it is not possible, "He heard Travis shift his rifle, click the safety catch and raise the weapon. There was a sound of thunder" (10). Eckels was guilty of stepping off the metal path and begged for help. Eckels made poor choices and his last one was to plead for help but Travis made his choice as well. Eckels kills a butterfly which ironically was the reason he was killed. Bradbury develops the theme that we should be cautious of our actions in moments of confidence, fear and guilt because every