The Presence of Panic and Its Affect on Reasoning in Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder"

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The short story “A sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury discusses many ideas about panic, curiosity and unforgivingness. “A sound of Thunder” describes a man, Eckels, travelling to the past with a fictional group, Time Safari Inc., which takes hunters to the past to shoot dinosaurs. Eckels and two others tracked and shot a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Whilst hunting the dinosaur Eckels panics and runs off the path. When they return to the present they find that history has changed. Throughout the story Eckels thoughts become panicked. Such panicked thoughts can lead to illogical actions that are destructive to persons involved. Eckels acts panicked whenever the group encounters danger. This is first described on page eleven when Eckels says “‘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.’” This leaves it apparent that Eckels panics when he feels that he is in danger. A second example of Eckels’ ...

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