Although many believe that their actions are small and not worth a change, your actions may be small, but it can cause a difference in the environment around you. Even knowing that this will happen, it is still hard to understand what the change is, and how it would affect you, but it would always help to keep your actions in mind.

In the Sound of Thunder, Eckels takes on the chance to join his safari guide Mr. Travis and others to the past, without knowledge and understanding of the price it takes to go in the past if not careful, he doesn’t listen to the warnings Travis gives him. They were finally brought to the animal he chose to shoot, although seeming heedless, he was frightened at the very first sight of the Tyrannosaurus rex, becoming a coward despite several encounters with other dinosaurs, and without notice, he stepped in the green moss. He didn’t keep his promises, and knowing that the future would change because of him, he didn’t put in much care, until he saw it, the president changed, a butterfly died, the man he saw was not quite the same and he knew what he had done wrong.

Eckels regretted what he had done to the future, and what it meant to not take notice of his small actions

In the story A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury, the author believes that small actions often lead to larger results even if they seem dispensable.

Eckels was too confident, he thought he was bound to get his target, but he didn’t have the courage to face the dinosaur, “Eckels, balanced on the narrow path, aimed his rifle playfully” (Bradbury 8). Warned by Travis just a few minutes ago, he was told that “Destroy this one man, and you destroy a race, a people, an entire history of life” (Bradbury 5). He ignored the several warnings that were given to him from his safari guide and even just being told the consequences of touching objects from the past, he was careless, arrogant and with his experiences with other dinosaurs he chose to take down his alert, which later causes him to lose his focus and change the future.

Despite the efforts of the safari team, Eckels ran away, feeling helpless, and went to hide in the time machine, but he was too frightened to react and stepped inside the green moss, “Stepped off the Path, and walked, not knowing it, in the jungle. His feet sank into green moss.” (Bradbury 11). Just by avoiding the beast, Eckels affected the team’s emotions, and he doesn’t see what he has done, and still think that he is innocent. ‘‘‘I’m innocent. I’ve done nothing!’’’ (Bradbury 15), and before he knows it, their back, they have a different president, people have not quite the similar things they had before, and a butterfly died right in front of their eyes.

The actions of Eckels may seem larger and easier to spot and what it may lead to, but actions that are smaller, more unnoticeable can do the same, and when the results come, you won’t know what hit you.

 

https://www.space.com/21675-time-travel.html

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/time-travel/