A Sound of Thunder Key Quotations
“The sign on the wall seemed to quaver under a film of sliding warm water.”
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Opening line immediately gives us a sense of Eckel’s trepidation and anxiety as his eyes
water and tears – recognised only as warm water to highlight he is unaware of his crying begin to form when he looks at the sign.
It seems as though Eckel’s reaction cannot be helped – the tears are simply “sliding” from his
eyes
Word choice – quaver meaning to shake and shiver illustrates his nerves and suggests that
he may not be mentally prepared for this journey
“A warm phlegm gathered in Eckels’s throat; he swallowed and pushed it down.”
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Repetition of “warm” from his tears to his phlegm suggests he is overheating from anxiety
The semi-colon mimics the reaction and illustrates Eckel’s is desperately trying to force
himself to go through with the journey
“Eckels glanced across the vast office at a mass and tangle, a snaking and humming of wires and
steel boxes, at an aurora that flickered now orange, now silver, now blue. There was a sound like a
gigantic bonfire burning all of Time”
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Word choice vast and mass alert us to how goliath this machine appears
Creates a rather threatening image of the Time Machine that reflects Eckel’s fear
Personification makes the machine appear alive as the wires coil and twist in all directions
illustrating how complex the machine is
Snaking – reinforces the threatening image as it has reminds us of snakes, commonly feared,
and has connotations of danger
Humming – the machine is vibrating and buzzing adding to the sense of danger and
highlighting his fear
This is contrasted by beauty of the machine, created through the imagery and list of colours.
Aurora refers to the Northern Lights – a colourful display of lights in the sky. It also has
connotations of Aurora the Roman Goddess of dawn and illustrates the rare beauty and
magnificence of this technology
The description ends though on a threatening note, “gigantic bonfire” allowing us to
understand the immense sound and power of the machine
“Eckels swayed on the padded seat, his face pale, his jaw stiff.”
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Characterisation of Eckels highlights his fear and anxiety
He is dizzily swaying from side to side as if disorientated
Pale – relates to his white expression and illustrates again his fear
Stiff – he is uptight and nervous
Helps us understand how frightened he is during the journey and links to the panic that he
experiences when meeting the dinosaur – we anticipate danger and downfall.
“They sat in the ancient wilderness. Far birds’ cries blew on a wind, and the smell of tar and an old
salt sea, moist grasses, and flowers the colour of blood”
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Futuristic setting is presented as foreign and threatening too
Ancient – gives us the impression that they don’t belong in this old, past world
The birds cries also signal danger and the sense description is strange and unpleasant - tar
Blood – connotes danger and death – hinting at the danger that is to come
“Step on a mouse and you crush the Pyramids.”
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Travis cautions the explorers initially and explains the cause and effect that their actions
could have if they step off the path
Killing a small mouse – a tiny rodent – contrasts with the consequence: the Pyramids –
extraordinary and wondrous structures could be brought down by such a small action
Important as it foreshadows the ending of the story
Highlights the butterfly effect theme and serves to deliver a cautionary message about
technology
“The jungle was high and the jungle was broad and the jungle was the entire world forever and
forever. Sounds like music and sounds like flying tents filled the sky, and those were pterodactyls
soaring with cavernous grey wings, gigantic bats of delirium and night fever.”
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Setting description is again threatening and creates a sense of danger
Repetition of forever emphasises its vastness
Sounds are strange – flying tents – and seem all at once beautiful and powerful
Cavernous – relates to caves and highlights their size and terrifying appearance
Gigantic – reinforces the size of the predators in this time and highlights how tiny the men
must feel in comparison
Delirium and night fever – create a sense of chaos, panic and madness that reflects the
danger of their journey and the threatening nature of this land
“Suddenly it all ceased, as if someone had shut a door.
Silence.
A sound of thunder.”
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Dramatic entrance of T-Rex
Each sentence is a paragraph of its own – creating dramatic impact and creates an ominous,
and threatening atmosphere
Silence creates unease and eeriness
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Sound of thunder – the title now has meaning – relates to how loud the T-Rex is and helps us
understand how powerful and dominant it is
“It came on great oiled, resilient, striding legs. It towered thirty feet above half of the trees, a
great evil god, folding its delicate watchmaker’s claws close to its oily reptilian chest. Each lower
leg was a piston, a thousand pounds of white bone, sunk in thick ropes of muscle, sheathed over in
a gleam of pebbled skin like the mail of a terrible warrior.”
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Imagery, word choice, list can all be analysed to illustrate the power, invincibility and
frightening appearance of T-Rex
Helps us to understand why Eckel’s becomes so panicked and steps off the path
“Its eyes rolled, ostrich eggs, empty of all expression save hunger. It closed its mouth in a death
grin.”
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Again a sense of unimaginable size and greatness created through imagery of eyes
Death grin – suggests violence, danger and evil nature
“It ran with a gliding ballet step, far too poised and balanced for its ten tons.”
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Contrast of power and elegance
Ballet – suggest grace, poise and agility
We understand the dinosaur moves with ease despite its size and weight
“The Monster twitched its jeweller’s hands down to fondle at the men, to twist them in half, to
crush them like berries, to cram them into its teeth and its screaming throat. Its boulder-stone eyes
levelled with the men.”
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Capitalised Monster helps us appreciate it’s importance and menace
Boulder-stone eyes – cold, hard stone-like eyes suggest emptiness
Screaming throat – connotations of pain
Crush like berries – the men are so insignificant in comparison
“Like a stone idol, like a mountain avalanche, Tyrannosaurus fell.”
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Dying – stone idol relates to statue and hardened exterior
Mountain avalanche – just as an avalanche is tons of snow falling, at great speed that has
the potential to kill and bury people, so too the dinosaur is a huge mass rushing to the
ground dangerously. Helps us to visualise the size of this great beast as it falls and dies.
“It fell to the floor, an exquisite thing, a small thing that could upset balances and knock down a
line of small dominoes and then big dominoes and then gigantic dominoes, all down the years
across Time. Eckels’s mind whirled. It couldn’t change things. Killing one butterfly couldn’t be that
important! Could it?”
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Domino effect reflected in sentence structure. The list starts small and builds to a climax.
Contrast between “small” dominoes” and “gigantic” dominoes illustrating that tiny actions
can have huge consequences
The questions involve the reader and deliver Bradbury’s cautionary message about
technology and nature: we must take caution when we meddle.
“There was a sound of thunder.”
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Dramatic ending to story. One line paragraph. Relates to title and sound of T-Rex.
Creates sense of finality and leaves us thinking the sound relates now to Travis’ rifle as he
has shot Eckels.