CER Summative writing
Marrisa 8-4
Have you ever thought of how your actions can change the result of something? It might change history or even change the world. The theme of the story “The sound of thunder” is small actions can make a big difference in the result of anything. Even if you are just one human being out of the billions of people on this planet, still your decisions and actions matter.
This story was mainly about this time machine that can take people back to the early ages, and Eckels, a curious, passionate hunter decided to take a ride in the machine and kill the Tyrannosaurus Rex, also known as the “king”, one of the large theropods T-rex. When the main character Eckels paid the money and arrived at 60 million years ago when he and the Safari team landed on the ground, he was told to always keep his feet on the Path. Explained by the safari leader: “Its purpose is to keep you from touching this world of the past in any way.” “Why?” asked Eckels. At this point Eckels and the other members in the hunter’s group were still confused, why is it so important to us to stay on the “Path”? (Bradbury 225). “We don’t want to change the future. We don’t belong here in the past.” Says Mr.Travis, who was clear about what to do and what not to do here, in this past world. Meanwhile, the hunters were warned with another strict rule: “And don’t shoot animal we don’t okay.” “Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, a small bird, a roach, a flower even, thus destroying an important link in a growing species” claimed by Travis. As Eckel asked again, “That’s not clear”
“Alright, say we accidentally kill one mouse here. That means all the future families of this one particular mouse are destroyed, right?” “Right.” Answered Eckels, still trying to get the importance of this strict rule, but was still unclear with the consequences. These quotes direct to the claim “ Small actions and make a big difference in the result of anything”. Referring to Travis’s words, the consequences after killing any object or subject in this past world can be big enough that it would influence the future. There are so many reasons and consequences related to the result of an animal or plant dying in that world, things such as food chain, environmental issues, ecosystem balance, and so on. After all these warnings and explanations, Eckels didn’t follow the instructions and stepped off the path. When his Safari leader- Mr. Travis and the assistant Lesperance gave out the warning for at least two times to the hunters, claiming that the one thing not to do in this safari is to step off the Path. The protagonist- Eckels wasn’t awarded of the serious words. After he stepped off the path and caused trouble, it was too late for him to realize how one of his small actions can cause the future to change and have a big difference.
“Don’t look at me,” cried Eckels. “I haven’t done anything.” (Ray Bradbury 234). “It couldn’t change things. Killing one butterfly couldn’t be that important! Could it?” His face was cold. His mouth trembled. This quote described Eckels emotions after he killed a butterfly, it was too late for him to try to makeup, the butterfly has died in this past world. As it is told by Travis, each and every creature matters, and Eckels had broken the rules, the stiff penalty is coming. He tried to bring the conversation to another topic, such as who won the presidential election. After the side conversation ended, Eckels moaned. He dropped to his knees, He scrabbled at the golden butterfly with shaking fingers. “There was a sound of thunder”. The story ended with this sentence, there was no description of what happened next, but looking at Eckels’s words, it relates to the theme of this story that even small actions matter.