"A Sound of Thunder" Plot Details
Hunting trips to the past.
Why does Travis, the Time Safari, Inc. leader, want to leave Eckles behind during the expedition? What makes him so furious?
Because he disobeyed orders and stepped off the Path, which could mess with history and the natural order of things. (Turns out, Travis was right to worry!)
What year does the story take place?
2055.
If something malfunctions, it means it...
...doesn't work properly.
Eckles, the story's protagonist, is amazed by the "mass and tangle" of "snaking and humming wires and steel boxes" on the machine across the room from where he was signing up for the trip. What was the machine he was amazed by?
A time machine.
Which candidate won the election right before Eckles went on the Time Safari, Inc. trip? Keith, the pro-democracy candidate, or Deutscher, the pro-dictatorship candidate?
Keith, the pro-democracy candidate.
60 million
(To be exact, 60 million, two thousand and fifty-five.)
Travis is worried that messing with time and stepping off the Path might accidentally _____________ millions of animals or an entire species, so he warns them to be very careful.
a. Revoke
b. Annihilate
c. Malfunction
b. Annihilate
What is the warning that Travis, the safari leader, gives to Eckles multiple times in the story?
Stay on the Path. Don't go off of it-- no matter what.
What character is described as "a stone idol, a mountain avalanche"? It also sounds like thunder when entering the scene!
The Tyrannosaurus Rex.
In Eckles' fear, he steps off the metal Path and crushes what single thing in the environment that ends up changing the world, even though he doesn't know it at the time?
A single butterfly.
Name the flaw in the sign when the Hunters get back?
It is misspelled
Lesperance has marked the target animals with red paint.
Why don't Bilings and Kramer want to take a trophy picture with the T-Rex once they kill it?
They are too horrified, tired, and scared by the violence of the whole ordeal, and just want to go home.
Name somehting the author used to describe the T-Rex
Pistons, teeth, armor, ostrich eggs, etc.
What is a dictatorship? Explain.
A type of government where one leader is 100% in charge and rules by force and fear.
How was the T-Rex that the hunters shot SUPPOSED to die? (The hunters shot it, but it was going to die anyway, which is why they were allowed to kill it.)
A gigantic tree branch fell on it.
Upon their return from the Time Safari, Inc. trip, the official at the front desk is very excited to share the election results when Eckles asks him. How does he describe the man who won? Fill in the blanks:
"We got a/an ______________ man now, a man with ______________!"
"We got an iron man now, a man with guts!"
Name at least two things in the story that were described as having "a sound of thunder."
1. The time machine
2. The T-Rex
3. The gunshot at the end (probably Travis shooting Eckles)
Travis is worried that if someone steps off the Path, Time Safari, Inc.'s license to travel might be _______________.
Revoked.