STUDY GUIDE

Study Guide for Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder”
I. VOCABULARY: Be able to define the following words and understand them when they appear in the story or class discussion.    
 annihilate- to destroy something or someone
expendable- someone or something that is not necessary or important
infinitesimally- someone mean
primeval- someone or something from the earlier times
resilient- someone or something that recovers fast from something
revoke- To take away something
sheathed- a case for a knife or a blade
 subliminal- something that can't be perceived, but remembered because the constant repetition
 taint- somethings that corrupt
 undulate- to move in a gentle motion, like a wave like motion
 II. LITERARY TERMS: Be able to define each term and apply each term to the story. foreshadowing:a warning or indication in the future
         Describe what is foreshadowed in this story:
simile:a figure of speech that uses like and as
         example:
metaphor:a figure of speech that is applied on someone
       example:
protagonist:the main character
Who is the protagonist of this story? The main character was Ekels.
 III. QUESTIONS: Answer the following questions. 
1. What company does Eckels visit? Eckels visits the company of the "TIME SAFARI INC."
 2. What are the penalties for disobeying instructions? If you do not follow the instruction there is a fine of ten thousand dollars.
 3. About what is Eckels thankful? that he is able to get the gun and go back in the past.
 4. What did some people want to do if Deutscher had won the election and why? People wanted to go to the past to change the future.
5. What does the man behind the desk tell Eckels happened last year that makes Eckels think about going on the safari? There was six safari leaders killed and twelve hunters killed.
 6. Who is the Safari Leader? The safari leader is a man who is in charge.
7. How many people besides Eckels are on the trip? Name them. There were four men the safari leader, Travis, the safari assistant, Lesperance and two other hunters, Biling and Kramer.
8. What does Travis tell Eckels is the best way to kill a dinosaur? He told him to shoot him in the mouth.
 9. When the hunters arrive at their destination, what does Travis tell them hasn’t happened yet in history? That if he killed a little mouse the future would change a lot.
10. How many years did the men travel? Thee traveled 10 million years in the past.
11. What is the anti gravity metal path and why must the men stay on it? The have to stay on the path because they can not kill a little animal.
12. What happened to the machine and the men’s clothes before they made their journey? They were sanitized and cleaned.
13. Why do the men wear oxygen helmets? They can contaminate the air.
14.What is unique about the dinosaurs that the men can shoot? It has little hand and big teeth.
 15. What is a paradox?
 16. What does Eckels jokingly pretend to do? He was trying to smile and say that he never got scared of anything.
 17. How does the reader know Eckels is afraid? He kept of shaking and he wanted to go back tot he time machine.
18. What does Eckels say when he sees the size of the dinosaur? The dinosaur was bigger than he imagined it.
19. How do the men know which dinosaurs they can shoot? It had a red stripe somewhere on the body.
20. Where was Eckels on his way to when he stepped off the path? He was going back to the time machine.
 21. What do Billings and Kramer do after the dinosaur is dead? They stood in front of the dinosaur.
22. What does Lesperance offer Billings and Kramer that they turn down? He offered him to take out the bullets.
 23. What does Travis tell Eckels they are going to do to him? They would kill him.
24. What does Travis make Eckels do in order to go back with them? He had to take out the bullets from the dinosaur.
 25. What does Eckels notice about the sign on their return? The would were spelled a different way.
 26. What does Eckels find on the bottom of his boots? He found a dead butterfly.
 27. What does Eckels learn about the election? That the other man won for president.
28. What is the reader to infer that Travis does to Eckels? He killed Eckels.