2. Introducing the Story Literary Focus: Style Reading Skills: Cause and Effect A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury Feature Menu

3. A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury

4. Who controls the past controls the future. —George Orwell

5. A Sound of Thunder Introducing the Story It’s the year 2055. Eckels, a wealthy hunter, wants to travel back in time to shoot a ferocious dinosaur. But he gets in over his head when he books passage with Time Safari, Inc. This story explores the possibility that even tiny changes to the environment of the past can drastically alter the future.

6. T-rex lived during the late Cretaceous Period. What other life forms were around then? insects similar to today’s marine invertebrates A Sound of Thunder Introducing the Story [End of Section] the first flowering plants

7. Style—the particular way a writer uses language. A Sound of Thunder Literary Focus: Style Style is also created through the sentence patterns writers use. Sentences can be short or long, simple or complicated. Writers use diction, or word choice, to create style. For example, some writers use long, elegant words; others prefer shorter, everyday words.

8. A Sound of Thunder Literary Focus: Style The use of vivid images and figurative language often plays a part in a writer’s style. Images—words and phrases that appeal to the senses. Figurative language—imaginative comparisons between seemingly unlike things.

9. Ray Bradbury tells this science-fiction story in a lush style. A Sound of Thunder Literary Focus: Style The setting and the figurative language shape a tense and suspenseful mood, or atmosphere. He uses vivid images and imaginative figurative language to create an exotic setting.

10. As you read “A Sound of Thunder,” notice the elements of Bradbury’s style. A Sound of Thunder Literary Focus: Style Images: Which of your senses do they appeal to? What feelings do they evoke for you? Diction and sentence patterns: How do they create a distinctive writing style? Figurative language: How does it help create the setting? the mood? [End of Section]

11. The events in a plot are interconnected, like links in a chain: One cause leads to an effect, which causes another effect, and so on. A Sound of Thunder Reading Skills: Cause and Effect A power outage occurs at 2:30 A.M. Cause Valeria’s alarm does not go off. Effect Valeria’s alarm does not go off. Cause Valeria is late For school. Effect

12. The plot of “A Sound of Thunder” is based on a theoretical cause-and-effect chain that might look something like this: A Sound of Thunder Reading Skills: Cause and Effect Time-traveling human steps on butterfly in past. This butterfly does not pass on its genes Butterflies and the ecosystem is altered. Humans evolve in different environment. Modern civilization is altered. [End of Section]

13. A Sound of Thunder Quickwrite Make the Connection “A Sound of Thunder” is a story about time travel. Jot down some thoughts about where you’d go if you could travel through time. Would you choose the past or the future as your destination? Would you stay in the region where you live, or would you go someplace else? How would traveling through time affect your life? [End of Section]

14. Vocabulary

15. Previewing the Vocabulary annihilate v.: destroy; wipe out. expendable adj.: worth sacrificing to gain an objective. depression n.: major economic downturn. (Depression also means “sadness.”) paradox n.: something that has or seems to have contradictory qualities. A Sound of Thunder Vocabulary

16. Previewing the Vocabulary delirium n.: extreme mental disturbance, often accompanied by hallucinations (seeing things that are not there). resilient adj.: able to return to its original shape quickly after being stretched or compressed; elastic. remit v.: return payment. revoke v.: cancel; withdraw. primeval adj.: primitive; of the earliest times. subliminal adj.: below the level of awareness. A Sound of Thunder Vocabulary

17. 1. During a ___________ many people cannot find work. 2. Good rubber tires are strong and ___________. 3.Most modern builders are careful not to ___________ the remains of ancient civilizations. 4. The car will be yours if you ___________ the payments. 5.Dinosaurs lived during ___________ times. Vocabulary Activity Fill in the blanks with the correct Word Bank words. primeval resilientdepressionannihilate remit [End of Section] depression resilient annihilate remit primeval A Sound of Thunder Vocabulary

18. Meet the Writer

19. Most noted for his short stories, Ray Bradbury has also written novels, children’s books, plays, screenplays, television scripts, and poetry. His vivid imagination, lively style, and social commentary have set him apart in the world of fantasy and science- fiction writers. Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois, in 1920. His family moved to Los Angeles in 1934. He became interested in books and writing early in life. More About the Writer A Sound of Thunder Meet the Writer [End of Section]