“A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury – Skeleton Notes

Use this set of notes to fill out as you complete this in groups. This will help keep the plot
organized for you. Be prepared to share and go over as a class.

1. _______________ is the protagonist of this story. At the opening of the tale, he has
arrived at _______________, a company that specializes in
_______________________________.

2. Some words that describe Eckles would be as follows:

____________________________, __________________________, and
___________________________.

3. Time Safari, Inc. doesn’t guarantee that clients will

__________________________, but it does guarantee ______________________.

4. ______________________ is the guide on this excursion to

______________________.

5. The first rule ______________________ gives for the trip is

“________________________________________.” The penalty for violating this
rule is ______________________________________________________________.

6. The discussion of ___________________ between Travis and Eckels is an example

of _____________________.

7. The two candidates in the resent election were ______________________ and

______________________.
8. The hunters will be traveling to __________________________. He is given the
option to __________________ before they make the trip back in the machine.

9. Eckels plans to shoot a _________________________________.

10. The people in the time machine with Eckels are __________________________,
the Safari Guide; _________________________, his assistant;
_________________________, a fellow hunter; and ______________________,
another hunter.

11. The second rule of the trip is to ______________________________________,

which hovers six inches above the ground. They must follow this rule so that
_______________________________________________.

12. They cannot change anything about their surroundings except what they are
specifically there to kill because it will trigger_______________________________,
meaning that ______________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
______________________.

13. ______________________ went back in time before the trip to be sure that
_____________________________________________________________________
________________.

14. ______________________ studied the ______________________________ for

_______________________ until it met its end by
____________________________________________.
15. They trail the men are to follow is marked by ____________________________.
The beast they are hunting has been marked with a ___________________________.

16. The travelers won’t run into themselves in the past because
__________________________________________. It creates a paradox.

17. When the dinosaur finally appears, Eckels ______________________.

______________________ tells him to
go____________________________________, but he ends up
_______________________________________.

The following inference can be made about Eckels based on his actions:
_____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________.

18. After the dinosaur was killed, ______________________ and

______________________ threw up. The group found ______________________ in
the ______________________. ______________________ wants to leave ________
in the past, but ________________________________________________________.

19. ______________________ forced Eckels to

_____________________________________ from the _____________________. He
must do this because ________________________________________________.

20. The significance of the years mentioned in the return trip is as follows:
(Significant in History)

a. 1492 -

b. 1776 -

c. 1812 -
21. When the group returns to their present, things are very different:
______________________ is the president, the ______________________ has
changed, and the setting is now ______________________.

22. All of the changes to their present were caused by

__________________________________________________.

23. At the end of the story, we can infer that

_________________________________________________________.