A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury

Imagine being able to travel back in time. Many writers have explored this idea in science fiction stories and movies. You are about to read one of the most popular_and thought-provoking_stories about time travel ever written.

LITERARY FOCUS: STYLE AND MOOD A writer’s diction, or word choice, greatly defines a work’s style. Style is also determined by sentence length and complexity. A story that is written in brief simple sentences, for example, is different in style from a story written in long complex sentences. See below:

Style: Simple Style: More Complex

The sun rose. The air was warm, “It was Miss Murdstone who was my coffee was hot. Nothing arrived, and a gloomy-looking lady stirred. Nothing breathed except she was: dark, like her brother, for the lizard. That lizard could whom she greatly resembled in outstare a rock. face and voice . . .” (from David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The use (or non-use) of imagery and figurative language also has an effect on style. In the story you’re about to read, Ray Bradbury uses vivid imagery and figurative language to create a style that is as lush as its prehistoric setting. Mood, like style, is also created by diction, sentence length, imagery, and figurative language. A story’s mood, or atmosphere, can be described using adjectives like scary, calm, and mysterious. • As you read “A Sound of Thunder,” notice how Bradbury's choice of words, imagery, and figurative language creates a unique style. Literary Skills • As Bradbury describes the ancient jungle, think about the words you’d Understand elements of use to describe the story’s mood. style, including figurative language and READING SKILLS: CAUSE AND EFFECT mood. The events in a story are connected by a chain of causes and effects. One Reading Skills event causes another, which causes another, and so on. A cause is the Understand reason something happens. An effect is the result. Certain words_like cause-and-effect relationships. because, consequently, for, so, since, and therefore_can alert you to cause- Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reserved. Vocabulary and-effect relationships. Skills Understand As you read “A Sound of Thunder,” look for causes and effects. There Greek and Latin are plenty to find. In fact, the whole story is about how one event causes prefixes and word roots. another_and another, and another, and . . .

220 Part 1 Collection 8: Evaluating Style PREVIEW SELECTION VOCABULARY The following words appear in the story you are about to read. You may want to become familiar with them before you begin reading.

annihilate (¥·n¢√¥·l†t≈) v.: destroy; wipe out. resilient (ri·zil√y¥nt) adj.: able to return to its original shape quickly after being stretched or If we continue to destroy the region's forests, we compressed; elastic. may also annihilate the wildlife that lives there. This resilient fabric springs back to its original expendable (ek·spen√d¥·b¥l) adj.: worth sacri- shape no matter how you stretch it. ficing to gain an objective. remit (ri·mit√) v.: return payment. The officers regretted the loss but considered the ground troops expendable. The company will remit, or return, full payment if the consumers are not satisfied. depression (d≤·presh√¥n) n.: major economic downturn. (Depression also means “sadness.”) revoke (ri·v£k√) v.: cancel; withdraw. A depression hit the country, resulting in wide- They can revoke your club membership if you spread unemployment and homelessness. fail to attend meetings.

paradox (par√¥·däks≈) n.: something that has or primeval (pr¢·m≤√v¥l) adj.: primitive; of the seems to have contradictory qualities. earliest times. The paradox is that sometimes we are loneliest In the prehistoric world, giant lizards crashed when we are in a crowd of people. through the primeval forest.

delirium (di·lir√≤·¥m) n.: extreme mental distur- subliminal (sub·lim√¥·n¥l) adj.: below the level of bance, often accompanied by hallucinations awareness. (seeing things that are not there). Unaware of the movie’s subliminal message to In his delirium, he imagined he was seeing buy food, the audience flocked to buy snacks. giant insects.

PREFIXES AND WORD ROOTS A prefix is a word part that comes before a word root and affects its meaning. A knowledge of prefixes can help you figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words. It can also help you use and understand a wider variety of words. The word remit, for example, contains the prefix re-, which means “back.” It also contains the word root mit, which means “send.” When you remit something, Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reserved. you send it back.

When you come across an unfamiliar word, look for a prefix or word root you recognize to help you figure out the word’s meaning.

A Sound of Thunder 221 A Sound of Thunder Ray Bradbury Peter Bollinger.

The sign on the wall seemed to quaver under a film of sliding warm water. Eckels felt his eyelids blink over his stare, and the Pause after you read the sign (lines 4-5). Underline the sign burned in this momentary darkness: information that seems TIME SAFARI,INC.SAFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST. unusual. Based on this information, when do you think YOU NAME THE ANIMAL.WETAKE YOU THERE.YOU SHOOT IT. ved. the story takes place? A warm phlegm gathered in Eckels’s throat; he swallowed and pushed it down. The muscles around his mouth formed a smile as he put his hand slowly out upon the air, and in that hand waved a check for ten thousand dollars to the man behind the desk. 10 “Does this safari guarantee I come back alive?” Pause at line 16. Why do you think there is such a stiff “We guarantee nothing,” said the official, “except the penalty for disobeying dinosaurs.” He turned. “This is Mr. Travis, your Safari Guide in instructions? the Past. He’ll tell you what and where to shoot. If he says no shooting, no shooting. If you disobey instructions, there’s a stiff penalty of another ten thousand dollars, plus possible government action, on your return.” © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser

222 Part 1 Collection 8: Evaluating Style Eckels glanced across the vast office at a mass and tangle, a snaking and humming of wires and steel boxes, at an aurora1 Re-read lines 17-35, and that flickered now orange, now silver, now blue. There was underline examples of 20 a sound like a gigantic bonfire burning all of Time, all the years figurative language (simile, metaphor, personification). and all the parchment calendars, all the hours piled high and set aflame. A touch of the hand and this burning would, on the Pause at line 43. Who were instant, beautifully reverse itself. Eckels remembered the word- the two candidates for presi- ing in the advertisements to the letter. Out of chars and ashes, dent of the United States? Circle their names. Which out of dust and coals, like golden salamanders, the old years, the one won the election? green years, might leap; roses sweeten the air, white hair turn Irish-black, wrinkles vanish; all, everything fly back to seed, flee death, rush down to their beginnings, suns rise in western skies 30 and set in glorious easts, moons eat themselves opposite to the custom, all and everything cupping one in another like Chinese boxes2,rabbits into hats, all and everything returning to the fresh death, the seed death, the green death, to the time before the beginning. A touch of a hand might do it, the merest touch of a hand. “Unbelievable.” Eckels breathed, the light of the Machine on his thin face. “A real Time Machine.” He shook his head.

ved. “Makes you think. If the election had gone badly yesterday, I might be here now running away from the results. Thank God Anti- is a prefix meaning 40 Keith won. He’ll make a fine President of the United States.” “against.” According to the “Yes,” said the man behind the desk. “We’re lucky. If description of Deutscher in lines 43-44, what is he Deutscher had gotten in, we’d have the worst kind of dictator- “against”? ship. There’s an anti-everything man for you, a militarist, anti- Christ, anti-human, anti-intellectual. People called us up, you know, joking but not joking. Said if Deutscher became President they wanted to go live in 1492. Of course it’s not our business to conduct Escapes, but to form Safaris. Anyway, Keith’s President now. All you got to worry about is—” Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser

1. aurora (ô·rôr√¥) n.: Bradbury is comparing the glow coming from the time machine to an aurora, a colorful display of light that appears at night in the skies near the North and South Poles. 2. Chinese boxes: set of boxes, each of which fits into the next-largest one.

A Sound of Thunder 223 “Shooting my dinosaur,” Eckels finished it for him. 50 “A Tyrannosaurus rex. The Tyrant Lizard, the most incredi- ble monster in history. Sign this release. Anything happens to Pause at line 52. What animal is Eckels hunting? Circle you, we’re not responsible. Those dinosaurs are hungry.” the answer. Eckels flushed angrily. “Trying to scare me!” “Frankly, yes. We don’t want anyone going who’ll panic at the first shot. Six Safari leaders were killed last year, and a dozen - Re-read lines 54 58. What do hunters. We’re here to give you the severest thrill a real hunter ever these details suggest about Time Safari, Inc.? asked for. Traveling you back sixty million years to bag the biggest game in all of Time. Your personal check’s still there. Tear it up.” Mr. Eckels looked at the check. His fingers twitched. 60 “Good luck,” said the man behind the desk. “Mr. Travis, he’s all yours.” They moved silently across the room, taking their guns with them, toward the Machine, toward the silver metal and the roaring light.

First a day and then a night and then a day and then a night, then it was day-night-day-night-day. A week, a month, a year, a decade! A.D. 2055. A.D. 2019. 1999! 1957! Gone! The Machine roared.

Circle the words in lines They put on their oxygen helmets and tested the intercoms. ved. - 76 77 that mean “Eckels 70 Eckels swayed on the padded seat, his face pale, his jaw stiff. said.” What does this phrase reveal about Eckels? He felt the trembling in his arms, and he looked down and found his hands tight on the new rifle. There were four other men in the Machine. Travis, the Safari Leader; his assistant, Lesperance; and two other hunters, Billings and Kramer. They sat looking at each other, and the years blazed around them. “Can these guns get a dinosaur cold?” Eckels felt his mouth saying. “If you hit them right,” said Travis on the helmet radio. “Some dinosaurs have two brains, one in the head, another far Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser 80 down the spinal column. We stay away from those. That’s stretching luck. Put your first two shots into the eyes, if you can, blind them, and go back into the brain.”

224 Part 1 Collection 8: Evaluating Style The Machine howled. Time was a film run backward. Suns fled and ten million moons fled after them. “Think,” said Eckels. “Every hunter that ever lived would envy us today. This makes Underline the sentence in Africa seem like Illinois.” lines 103-107 that tells you The Machine slowed; its scream fell to a murmur. The the purpose of “the Path.” Why do you think the term is Machine stopped. capitalized? The sun stopped in the sky. 90 The fog that had enveloped the Machine blew away and they were in an old time, a very old time indeed, three hunters and two Safari Heads with their blue metal guns across their knees. “Christ isn’t born yet,” said Travis. “Moses has not gone to the mountain to talk with God. The Pyramids are still in the earth, waiting to be cut out and put up. Remember that. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler—none of them exists.” Re-read lines 111-113, which The men nodded. are full of imagery. To what “That”—Mr. Travis pointed—“is the jungle of sixty mil- senses do these images appeal? 100 lion two thousand and fifty-five years before President Keith.” He indicated a metal path that struck off into green wilderness, over streaming swamp, among giant ferns and palms. “And that,” he said, “is the Path, laid by Time Safari for

ved. your use. It floats six inches above the earth. Doesn’t touch so much as one grass blade, flower, or tree. It’s an anti-gravity metal. Its purpose is to keep you from touching this world of the Past in any way. Stay on the Path. Don’t go off it. I repeat. Don’t go off.For any reason! If you fall off, there’s a penalty. And don’t shoot any animal we don’t okay.” 110 “Why?” asked Eckels. 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 color of blood. “We don’t want to change the Future. We don’t belong here Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser in the Past. The government doesn’t like us here. We have to pay big graft3 to keep our franchise. A Time Machine is finicky

3. graft n.: bribes.

A Sound of Thunder 225 business. Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, a Notes small bird, a roach, a flower even, thus destroying an important link in a growing species.” 120 “That’s not clear,” said Eckels. “All right,” Travis continued, “say we accidentally kill one mouse here. That means all the future families of this one particular mouse are destroyed, right?” “Right.” “And all the families of the families of the families of that one mouse! With a stamp of your foot, you annihilate first one, then a dozen, then a thousand, a million, a billion possible mice!” “So they’re dead,” said Eckels. “So what?” 130 “So what?” Travis snorted quietly. “Well, what about the foxes that’ll need those mice to survive? For want of ten mice, a annihilate (¥·n¢√¥·l†t≈) v.: fox dies. For want of ten foxes, a lion starves. For want of a lion, destroy; wipe out. all manner of insects, vultures, infinite billions of life forms are expendable (ek·spen√d¥·b¥l) adj.: worth sacrificing to gain thrown into chaos and destruction. Eventually it all boils down to an objective. this: Fifty-nine million years later, a cave man, one of a dozen in the entire world,goes hunting wild boar or saber-toothed tiger for food. But you, friend, have stepped on all the tigers in that

region. By stepping on one single mouse. So the cave man starves. ved.

In this long paragraph (lines And the cave man, please note, is not just any expendable man, 130-155), Travis explains the 140 no! He is an entire future nation.From his loins would have possible effects of stepping off the path and killing a sprung ten sons. From their loins one hundred sons, and thus mouse. Each effect, in turn, becomes the cause of anoth- onward to a civilization. Destroy this one man, and you destroy a er event. What is the final race,a people, an entire history of life. It is comparable to slaying effect Travis mentions? some of Adam’s grandchildren. The stomp of your foot, on one mouse, could start an earthquake, the effects of which could shake our earth and destinies down through Time, to their very foundations. With the death of that one cave man, a billion others yet unborn are throttled in the womb. Perhaps Rome never Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser rises on its seven hills. Perhaps Europe is forever a dark forest, 150 and only Asia waxes healthy and teeming.4 Step on a mouse and

4. teeming (t≤m√i«) adj.: swarming; overflowing.

226 Part 1 Collection 8: Evaluating Style Notes Peter Bollinger.

you crush the Pyramids. Step on a mouse and you leave your print, like a Grand Canyon, across Eternity. Queen Elizabeth might never be born, Washington might not cross the Delaware, there might never be a United States at all. So be careful. Stay on the Path. Never step off!” depression (d≤·pre◊√¥n) n.: “I see,” said Eckels. “Then it wouldn’t pay for us even to major economic downturn. touch the grass?” “Correct. Crushing certain plants could add up infinitesi- ved. mally.5 A little error here would multiply in sixty million years, What does Travis mean when 160 all out of proportion. Of course maybe our theory is wrong. he says he’s not sure whether Maybe Time can’t be changed by us. Or maybe it can be changed “messing around in Time can make a big roar or a little only in little subtle ways. A dead mouse here makes an insect rustle in history” (lines 169-171)? imbalance there, a population disproportion later, a bad harvest further on, a depression, mass starvation, and, finally, a change in social temperament in far-flung countries. Something much more subtle, like that. Perhaps only a soft breath, a whisper, a hair, pollen on the air, such a slight, slight change that unless you looked close you wouldn’t see it. Who knows? Who really

Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser can say he knows? We don’t know. We’re guessing. But until we 170 do know for certain whether our messing around in Time can make a big roar or a little rustle in history, we’re being careful.

5. infinitesimally (in≈fin·i·tes√i·m¥l·≤) adv.: in amounts too small to be measured.

A Sound of Thunder 227 This Machine, this Path, your clothing and bodies, were sterilized, as you know, before the journey. We wear these oxygen helmets so we can’t introduce our bacteria into an ancient Pause at line 175. Why do atmosphere.” the travelers wear sterilized clothing and oxygen “How do we know which animals to shoot?” helmets? “They’re marked with red paint,” said Travis. “Today, before our journey, we sent Lesperance here back with the Machine. He came to this particular era and followed certain animals.” 180 “Studying them?” “Right,” said Lesperance. “I track them through their entire existence, noting which of them lives longest. Very few. How many times they mate. Not often. Life’s short. When I find one that’s going to die when a tree falls on him, or one that drowns in a tar pit, I note the exact hour, minute, and second. I shoot a paint bomb. It leaves a red patch on his side. We can’t miss it. Pause at line 190. Why are only animals that are about Then I correlate our arrival in the Past so that we meet the to die anyway chosen for Monster not more than two minutes before he would have died hunting? anyway. This way, we kill only animals with no future, that are 190 never going to mate again. You see how careful we are?” “But if you came back this morning in Time,” said Eckels eagerly, “you must’ve bumped into us, our Safari! How did it

turn out? Was it successful? Did all of us get through—alive?” ved. Travis and Lesperance gave each other a look.

Re-read lines 195-202. What “That’d be a paradox,” said the latter. “Time doesn’t permit do you think? Will the expe- that sort of mess—a man meeting himself. When such occa- dition be a success, or will it end in tragedy? sions threaten, Time steps aside. Like an airplane hitting an air pocket. You felt the Machine jump just before we stopped? That was us passing ourselves on the way back to the Future. We saw 200 nothing. There’s no way of telling if this expedition was a success, if we got our monster, or whether all of us—meaning you, Mr. Eckels—got out alive.” Eckels smiled palely. Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser paradox (par√¥·däks≈) n.: “Cut that,” said Travis sharply. “Everyone on his feet!” something that has or seems They were ready to leave the Machine. to have contradictory qualities.

228 Part 1 Collection 8: Evaluating Style 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 ptero- delirium (di·lir√≤·¥m) n.: dactyls soaring with cavernous gray wings, gigantic bats of extreme mental disturbance, often accompanied by hallu- 210 delirium and night fever. Eckels, balanced on the narrow Path, cinations (seeing things that aimed his rifle playfully. are not there). “Stop that!” said Travis. “Don’t even aim for fun, blast you! If your guns should go off—”

Eckels flushed. “Where’s our Tyrannosaurus?” Re-read lines 206-211, and Lesperance checked his wristwatch. “Up ahead. We’ll bisect circle repeated words. Then, underline the imaginative his trail in sixty seconds. Look for the red paint! Don’t shoot till description of pterodactyls. we give the word. Stay on the Path. Stay on the Path!” How would you describe the style of the writing here? They moved forward in the wind of morning. “Strange,” murmured Eckels. “Up ahead, sixty million years, 220 Election Day over. Keith made President. Everyone celebrating. And here we are, a million years lost, and they don’t exist. The things we worried about for months, a lifetime, not even born or thought of yet.” “Safety catches off, everyone!” ordered Travis. “You, first shot, Eckels. Second, Billings. Third, Kramer.” Pause at line 217. The guides “I’ve hunted tiger, wild boar, buffalo, elephant, but now, keep telling Eckels, “Stay on the Path!” What do their ved. this is it,” said Eckels. “I’m shaking like a kid.” warnings lead you to predict? “Ah,” said Travis. Everyone stopped. 230 Travis raised his hand. “Ahead,” he whispered. “In the mist. There he is. There’s His Royal Majesty now.” The jungle was wide and full of twitterings, rustlings, murmurs, and sighs. Suddenly it all ceased, as if someone had shut a door. Silence. Pause at line 231. Whom might Travis be referring to A sound of thunder. as “His Royal Majesty”? Out of the mist, one hundred yards away, came Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser Tyrannosaurus rex. “It,” whispered Eckels. “It . . .” 240 “Sh!”

A Sound of Thunder 229 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 resilient (ri·zil√y¥nt) adj.: able to return to its original shape lower leg was a piston, a thousand pounds of white bone, sunk quickly after being stretched in thick ropes of muscle, sheathed over in a gleam of pebbled or compressed; elastic. skin like the mail6 of a terrible warrior. Each thigh was a ton of meat, ivory, and steel mesh. And from the great breathing cage of the upper body those two delicate arms dangled out front, The author uses rich figurative language in lines arms with hands which might pick up and examine men like 241-259. Underline at least 250 toys, while the snake neck coiled. And the head itself, a ton of four metaphors or similes that help you visualize the sculptured stone, lifted easily upon the sky. Its mouth gaped, fearsome dinosaur. exposing a fence of teeth like daggers. Its eyes rolled, ostrich eggs, empty of all expression save hunger. It closed its mouth in a death grin. It ran, its pelvic bones crushing aside trees and

Read the boxed passage bushes, its taloned feet clawing damp earth, leaving prints six aloud twice. Focus on read- inches deep wherever it settled its weight. It ran with a gliding ing the figures of speech clearly and dramatically. ballet step, far too poised and balanced for its ten tons. It moved into a sunlit arena warily, its beautifully reptilian hands feeling the air. 260 “Why,why,” Eckels twitched his mouth. “It could reach up remit (ri·mit√) v.: return payment. and grab the moon.”

“Sh!” Travis jerked angrily. “He hasn’t seen us yet.” ved. Notes “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.” “Shut up!” hissed Travis. “Nightmare.” “Turn around,” commanded Travis. “Walk quietly to the 270 Machine. We’ll remit one half your fee.” “I didn’t realize it would be this big,” said Eckels. “I miscal- culated, that’s all. And now I want out.” Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser “It sees us!” “There’s the red paint on its chest!”

6. mail n.: here, flexible metal armor.

230 Part 1 Collection 8: Evaluating Style The Tyrant Lizard raised itself. Its armored flesh glittered like a thousand green coins. The coins, crusted with slime, steamed. In the slime, tiny insects wriggled, so that the entire How does Eckels react when body seemed to twitch and undulate,7 even while the monster he sees the dinosaur (lines - itself did not move. It exhaled. The stink of raw flesh blew down 260 287)? What do the guides tell him to do? 280 the wilderness. “Get me out of here,” said Eckels. “It was never like this before. I was always sure I’d come through alive. I had good guides, good safaris, and safety. This time, I figured wrong. I’ve met my match and admit it. This is too much for me to get hold of.” “Don’t run,” said Lesperance. “Turn around. Hide in the Machine.” “Yes.” Eckels seemed to be numb. He looked at his feet as if trying to make them move. He gave a grunt of helplessness. 290 “Eckels!” He took a few steps, blinking, shuffling. “Not that way!” The Monster, at the first motion, lunged forward with a terrible scream. It covered one hundred yards in six seconds. Pause at line 302. What The rifles jerked up and blazed fire. A windstorm from the causes Eckels to step off the path? What effect might this ved. beast’s mouth engulfed them in the stench of slime and old action have? blood. The Monster roared, teeth glittering with sun. Eckels, not looking back, walked blindly to the edge of the Path, his gun limp in his arms, stepped off the Path, and walked, 300 not knowing it, in the jungle. His feet sank into green moss. His legs moved him, and he felt alone and remote from the events behind. The rifles cracked again. Their sound was lost in shriek and lizard thunder. The great level of the reptile’s tail swung up, lashed sideways. Trees exploded in clouds of leaf and branch. The Monster twitched its jeweler’s hands down to fondle at the Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser men, to twist them in half, to crush them like berries, to cram them into its teeth and its screaming throat. Its boulder-stone

7. undulate (un√j¥·l†t≈) v.: move in waves.

A Sound of Thunder 231 eyes leveled with the men. They saw themselves mirrored. They 310 fired at the metallic eyelids and the blazing black iris. Like a stone idol, like a mountain avalanche, Tyrannosaurus fell. Thundering, it clutched trees, pulled them with it. It wrenched and tore the metal Path. The men flung themselves back and away. The body hit, ten tons of cold flesh and stone. The guns fired. The Monster lashed its armored tail, twitched its snake jaws, and lay still. A fount of blood spurted from its throat. Somewhere inside, a sac of fluids burst. Sickening gushes drenched the hunters. They stood, red and glistening. The thunder faded. 320 The jungle was silent. After the avalanche, a green peace. After the nightmare, morning. Peter Bollinger. Billings and Kramer sat on the pathway and threw up. Travis and Lesperance stood with smoking rifles, cursing steadily. What two things is the dinosaur compared to in line 311? In the Time Machine, on his face, Eckels lay shivering. He What type of figurative language is each comparison? had found his way back to the Path, climbed into the Machine. Travis came walking, glanced at Eckels, took cotton gauze from a metal box, and returned to the others, who were sitting on the Path.

330 “Clean up.” ved. They wiped the blood from their helmets. They began to curse too. The Monster lay, a hill of solid flesh. Within, you could hear the sighs and murmurs as the furthest chambers of it Circle the words in lines died, the organs malfunctioning, liquids running a final instant 311-318 that help you visualize the violent death of the from pocket to sac to spleen, everything shutting off, closing up giant dinosaur. forever. It was like standing by a wrecked locomotive or a steam shovel at quitting time, all valves being released or levered tight. Bones cracked; the tonnage of its own flesh, off balance, dead The prefix mal- means “not” or “bad.” What do you think weight, snapped the delicate forearms, caught underneath. The malfunctioning (line 334) 340 meat settled, quivering. means? © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser Another cracking sound. Overhead, a gigantic tree branch broke from its heavy mooring, fell. It crashed upon the dead beast with finality.

232 Part 1 Collection 8: Evaluating Style “There.” Lesperance checked his watch. “Right on time. That’s the giant tree that was scheduled to fall and kill this animal originally.” He glanced at the two hunters. “You want the Pause at line 355. Why do trophy picture?” you think the two hunters, Billings and Kramer, do not “What?” want to take “trophy “We can’t take a trophy back to the Future. The body has to pictures”? 350 stay right here where it would have died originally, so the insects, birds, and bacteria can get at it, as they were intended to. Everything in balance. The body stays. But we can take a picture of you standing near it.” The two men tried to think, but gave up, shaking their heads. They let themselves be led along the metal Path. They sank wearily into the Machine cushions. They gazed back at the ruined Monster, the stagnating mound, where already strange reptilian birds and golden insects were busy at the steaming 360 armor. A sound on the floor of the Time Machine stiffened them. Eckels sat there, shivering. “I’m sorry,” he said at last. “Get up!” cried Travis.

ved. Eckels got up. “Go out on that Path alone,” said Travis. He had his rifle pointed. “You’re not coming back in the Machine. We’re leaving you here!” Lesperance seized Travis’s arm. “Wait—” 370 “Stay out of this!” Travis shook his hand away. “This fool nearly killed us. But it isn’t that so much, no. It’s his shoes! Look at them! He ran off the Path. That ruins us! We’ll forfeit! Re-read lines 369-376. Thousands of dollars of insurance! We guarantee no one leaves Underline what Travis fears the Path. He left it. Oh, the fool! I’ll have to report to the gov- might happen because Eckels stepped off the path. ernment. They might revoke our license to travel. Who knows Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser what he’s done to Time, to History!”

revoke (ri·v£k√) v.: cancel; withdraw.

A Sound of Thunder 233 “Take it easy, all he did was kick up some dirt.” “How do we know?” cried Travis. “We don’t know anything!

Pause at line 388. What does It’s all a mystery! Get out of here, Eckels!” Travis want Eckels to do as 380 Eckels fumbled his shirt. “I’ll pay anything. A hundred punishment? thousand dollars!” Travis glared at Eckels’s checkbook and spat. “Go out there. The Monster’s next to the Path. Stick your arms up to your elbows in his mouth. Then you can come back with us.” “That’s unreasonable!” “The Monster’s dead, you idiot. The bullets! The bullets can’t be left behind. They don’t belong in the Past; they might change anything. Here’s my knife. Dig them out!” The jungle was alive again, full of the old tremorings and 390 bird cries. Eckels turned slowly to regard the primeval garbage dump, that hill of nightmares and terror. After a long time, like a sleepwalker he shuffled out along the Path. primeval (pr¢·m≤√v¥l) adj.: primitive; of the earliest He returned, shuddering, five minutes later, his arms times. soaked and red to the elbows. He held out his hands. Each held a number of steel bullets. Then he fell. He lay where he fell, not Notes moving. “You didn’t have to make him do that,” said Lesperance.

“Didn’t I? It’s too early to tell.” Travis nudged the still body. ved. “He’ll live. Next time he won’t go hunting game like this. Okay.” 400 He jerked his thumb wearily at Lesperance. “Switch on. Let’s go home.” 1492. 1776. 1812. They cleaned their hands and faces. They changed their caking shirts and pants. Eckels was up and around again, not speaking. Travis glared at him for a full ten minutes. “Don’t look at me,” cried Eckels. “I haven’t done anything.” “Who can tell?” “Just ran off the Path, that’s all, a little mud on my shoes— Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser what do you want me to do—get down and pray?” 410 “We might need it. I’m warning you, Eckels, I might kill you yet. I’ve got my gun ready.”

234 Part 1 Collection 8: Evaluating Style “I’m innocent. I’ve done nothing!” 1999. 2000. 2055. The Machine stopped. Pause at line 415. Do you “Get out,” said Travis. think that Eckels will find The room was there as they had left it. But not the same as that he has “done nothing” when he gets back to the they had left it. The same man sat behind the same desk. But the future? same man did not quite sit behind the same desk. Travis looked around swiftly. “Everything okay here?” he 420 snapped. “Fine. Welcome home!” Travis did not relax. He seemed to be looking at the very atoms of the air itself, at the way the sun poured through the one high window. “Okay, Eckels, get out. Don’t ever come back.” Underline clues in lines Eckels could not move. 416-418 that indicate that “You heard me,” said Travis. “What’re you staring at?” Eckels’s actions have had an effect on life in his present. Eckels stood smelling of the air, and there was a thing to the air, a chemical taint so subtle, so slight, that only a faint cry 430 of his subliminal senses warned him it was there. The colors, white, gray, blue, orange, in the wall, in the furniture, in the sky subliminal (sub·lim√¥·n¥l) adj.: below the level of beyond the window, were . . . were . . . And there was a feel.His awareness.

ved. flesh twitched. His hands twitched. He stood drinking the odd- ness with the pores of his body. Somewhere, someone must have

been screaming one of those whistles that only a dog can hear. Circle the sensory images in His body screamed silence in return. Beyond this room, beyond lines 428-442 that describe Eckels’s feeling that some- this wall, beyond this man who was not quite the same man thing is not right. Why does seated at this desk that was not quite the same desk . . . lay an he compare people to chess pieces? entire world of streets and people. What sort of world it was 440 now, there was no telling. He could feel them moving there, beyond the walls, almost, like so many chess pieces blown in a dry wind.... But the immediate thing was the sign painted on the office Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser wall, the same sign he had read earlier today on first entering. Somehow, the sign had changed:

A Sound of Thunder 235 Tyme Sefari, Inc.

Compare this sign with the Sefaris tu any yeer en the past. one at the beginning of the Yu naim the animall. story. How are they the same or different? Wee taekyuthair. Yu shoot itt.

Peter Bollinger.

Eckels felt himself fall into a chair. He fumbled crazily at the thick slime on his boots. He held up a clod of dirt, trembling, “No, it can’t be. Not a little thing like that. No!” Embedded in the mud, glistening green and gold and black, Pause at line 462. What was 450 was a butterfly, very beautiful and very dead. the main effect of Eckels’s killing of the butterfly? “Not a little thing like that! Not a butterfly!” cried Eckels. 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? His face was cold. His mouth trembled, asking: “Who—

who won the presidential election yesterday?” ved. The man behind the desk laughed. “You joking? You know 460 very well. Deutscher, of course! Who else? Not that fool weakling Keith. We got an iron man now, a man with guts!” The official stopped. “What’s wrong?” Eckels moaned. He dropped to his knees. He scrabbled at the golden butterfly with shaking fingers. “Can’t we,” he pleaded

What is the “sound of thun- to the world, to himself, to the officials, to the Machine, “can’t der” in line 471? we take it back, can’t we make it alive again? Can’t we start over? Can’t we—” He did not move. Eyes shut, he waited, shivering. He heard Copyright © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser Travis breathe loud in the room; he heard Travis shift his rifle, 470 click the safety catch, and raise the weapon. There was a sound of thunder.

236 Part 1 Collection 8: Evaluating Style A Sound of Thunder

Style Chart Ray Bradbury uses language to re-create a lush prehistoric setting. We see and feel the vast jungle and its huge inhabitant, the Tyrannosaurus rex. The boxed passages below contain some of Bradbury’s stylistic devices: • figures of speech—metaphors, similes, personification • imagery—words that appeal to sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell Underline figures of speech, circle the images, and draw boxes around examples of repetition. Then, in the space provided, describe the writer’s style and the mood of the story.

Passage One Passage Two

“The jungle was high and the jungle was “The Tyrant Lizard raised itself. Its broad and the jungle was the entire armored flesh glittered like a thousand world forever and forever. Sounds like green coins. The coins, crusted with music and sounds like flying tents filled slime, steamed. In the slime, tiny insects the sky, and those were pterodactyls, wriggled, so that the entire body soaring with cavernous gray wings, seemed to twitch and undulate, even gigantic bats of delirium and night fever.” while the monster itself did not move. It exhaled. The stink of raw flesh blew down the wilderness.” ved. Describe Bradbury’s Style

A Sound of Thunder 237 Skills Review

A Sound of Thunder

Complete the sample test item below. Then, check your answer, and read the explanation that appears in the right-hand box.

Sample Test Item Explanation of the Correct Answer

In “A Sound of Thunder,” Bradbury’s The correct answer is A. style is created by all the following The word except tells you that the cor- elements except — rect answer is the one that does not fit. A regional dialect The story does not include any charac- B diction, or word choice ters who speak in a regional dialect. C sentence length and pattern B and C are not correct because word choice and sentence length are ele- D figurative language ments of style. D is wrong because this story is full of figurative language, another component of style.

DIRECTIONS: Circle the letter of each correct answer.

1. Which passage from the story con- 3. Overall, Bradbury's style can best be

tains a figure of speech? described as — ved. A “Stay on the Path.” A humorous B “They were ready to leave the B matter-of-fact Machine.” C sparse C “That'd be a paradox.” D richly descriptive D “Each lower leg was a piston . . .” 4. Which of the following words best 2. In this story, Bradbury's diction, or describes the mood of “A Sound of word choice, can best be described Thunder”? — as F relaxed Literary Skills F flat G quiet Analyze elements of G vivid H terrifying

style, including © Copyright by Holt,Winston. Rinehart and All rights reser figurative H everyday J evil language and mood. J technical

238 Part 1 Collection 8: Evaluating Style Skills Review

A Sound of Thunder

Prefixes

Prefixes and Meanings

in-, im-, or un-, meaning “not” re-, meaning “back; again” ex-, meaning “out” sub-, meaning “below” extra-, meaning “outside; beyond” pre-, meaning “came before”

Vocabulary DIRECTIONS: Read each sentence carefully. Then, write the definition of Skills Use prefixes to each boldface word on the line below. Refer to the chart above for help. define words. Use words in 1. Eckels took an extraordinary journey 3. The dinosaur seemed immortal, like a context. into the past. terrifying pagan god.

2. To keep the world unchanged, they 4. After their adventure, the travelers were ordered to stay on the Path. had no desire to revisit the past. ved. Vocabulary in Context DIRECTIONS: Complete the paragraph below by writing a word from the word box to fit each numbered blank. Not all words from the box will be used.

WordWord Box Box I have been wanting to go to the (1) forest, annihilate the oldest place open to time travelers. I have money to pay the hefty fee, expendable though the world is in an economic (2) . Besides, depression Historic Travels, Inc., will (3) my fee if the authori- paradox ties (4) the company's license and cancel the trip. delirium The Time Traveler packed light, bringing nothing that was not resilient

A Sound of Thunder 239 Collection 8 Student pages 220–221 221 message to below the level of or return, full payment primitive; of the adj.: subliminal able to return to its it, forest. A Sound of Thunder adj.: rem adj.: ¥·n¥l) your club membership if you √ cancel; withdraw. v¥l) return payment. ke fabric springs back to its original v.: ≤√ ) y¥nt) primeval v.: √ √ something, ) √ revo (sub·lim (pr¢·m (ri·zil are are of the movie’s esilient (ri·v£k r remit (ri·mit aw the prehistoric world, giant lizards crashed

if the consumers are not satisfied. buy food, the audience flocked to buy snacks. earliest times. original shape quickly after being stretched or compressed; elastic. This shape no matter how you stretch it. The company will They can fail to attend meetings. In through the awareness. Un esilient evoke r remit r primeval subliminal which means “back.” It also , - re worth sacri- adj.: major economic which means “send.” When you also means “sadness.”) n.: something that has or destroy; wipe out. extreme mental distur- mit, the wildlife that lives there. v.: n.: ¥n) d¥·b¥l) n.: √ ) √ ) ≈ ≈ he imagined he was seeing expendable. ·¥m) hit the country, resulting in wide- is that sometimes we are loneliest ¥·l†t √ ·presh Depression √≤ ¥·däks ≤ √ for example, contains the prefix (ek·spen annihilate (d are are in a crowd of people.

(¥·n¢ (par (di·lir is a word part that comes before a word root and affects its meaning. delirium, we

paradox remit, en his depression we continue to destroy the region's forests, we

ound troops iant insects. wh g ficing to gain an objective. If may also The officers regretted the loss but considered the gr A spread unemployment and homelessness. seems to have contradictory qualities. The In downturn. ( bance, often accompanied by hallucinations (seeing things that are not there). prefix

PREVIEW SELECTION VOCABULARY The following words appear in the story you are about may to want read. You to become familiar with them before you begin reading. annihilate expendable depression paradox delirium PREFIXES AND WORD ROOTS A A knowledge of prefixes can help you figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words. It can also help you use and understand a wider variety of words. The word contains the word root you send it back. When you come across an unfamiliar word, look for a prefix or word root you recognize to help you figure out the meaning. word’s

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright One like David Style is also _ is the style. cause can alert you to cause- _ , by Charles Dickens) causes and effects. . by Ray Bradbury Style: More Complex therefore “It was Miss Murdstone who was arrived, and a gloomy-looking lady she was: dark, like her brother, whom she greatly resembled in face and voice . . .” (from Copperfield stories about time travel ever written. is the result. Certain words and mysterious _ and effect scary, calm, scary, and thought-provoking like style, is also created by diction, sentence length, imagery, Style: Simple _ and another, and another, and . and . another, and . another, _ Mood, As you read “A look Sound for of causes Thunder,” and effects. There As you read “A notice Sound how of Bradbury's Thunder,” choice of and words, figurative imagery, language creates a unique style. As Bradbury describes the ancient jungle, think about the words you’d use to describe the mood. story’s The sun rose. The air was warm, my coffee was hot. Nothing stirred. Nothing breathed except for the lizard. That lizard could outstare a rock. A writer’s A diction, writer’s or word choice, greatly defines a work’s determined by sentence length A and story complexity. that is written in brief simple sentences, for example, is different in style from a story written in long complex sentences. See below: The use (or non-use) of imagery and figurative language also has an effect on style. In the story you’re about to read, Ray Bradbury uses vivid imagery and figurative language to create a style that is as lush as its prehistoric setting. and figurative language. A mood, story’s or atmosphere, can be described using adjectives like • • The events in a story are connected by a chain of and which event so causes causes on. another, another, A reason something happens. An so, since, for, because, consequently, and-effect relationships. are plenty to find. In fact, the whole story is about how one event causes another A A Sound of Thunder Imagine being able to travel back in time. Many writers have explored this idea in science fiction stories are and about movies. to read You one of the most popular LITERARY FOCUS: STYLE AND MOOD READING SKILLS: CAUSE AND EFFECT Collection 8: Evaluating Style Part 1 mood. Skills Skills figurative Reading word roots. ocabulary Understand Understand Understand elements of prefixes and relationships. V language and style, including Greek and Latin cause-and-effect Literary Skills 220

112 The Holt Reader: Teacher’s Manual Collection 8 Student pages 222–223 223 (simile, 35, and - 44, what is he - is a prefix meaning - A Sound of Thunder “against.” According to the description of Deutscher in lines 43 Re-read lines 17 Pause at line 43. Who were the two candidates for president of the United States? Circle their names. Which one won the election? Keith Anti “against”? He seems to be against everything but the mil- itary. underline examples of figurative language personification). metaphor, 1 ” — Bradbury is comparing the glow coming from the n.: set of boxes, each of which fits into the next-largest ) ¥ √ ô·rôr ( abbits into hats, all and everything returning to the es,” said the man behind the desk.lucky. “We’re If ,r 2 Eckels Eckels glanced across the vast office at a mass and tangle, A touch of the hand and this burning would, on the “Unbelievable.” Eckels breathed, the light of the Machine “Y time machine to an aurora, a colorful display of light that appears at night in the skies near the North and South Poles. one. ith won. make a He’ll fine ofPresident States.” the United nduct Escapes, but to form Safaris. President Anyway, Keith’s een years, might leap; roses sweeten the air, white hair turn ish-black, wrinkles vanish; all, everything fly back to seed, flee a a snaking and humming of wires and steel boxes, at an aurora that now flickered orange, now silver, now blue. There was a sound like a gigantic bonfire burning all of Time, all the years and all the parchment calendars, all the hours piled high and set aflame. instant, beautifully itself.reverse Eckels the remembered word- ing in the advertisements to the letter. Out of chars and ashes, out of dust and coals, like golden salamanders, the old years, the gr Ir death, rush down to their beginnings, suns rise in western skies and set in glorious easts, moons eat opposite themselves to the custom, all and everything cupping one in another like Chinese boxes 1. aurora 2. Chinese boxes: fresh fresh death, the seed death, the green death, to the time before the beginning. A touch of a hand might do it, the merest touch of a hand. on his thin face. real Time Machine.” He “A shook his head. you think.“Makes If the election had gone badly yesterday, I might be here now running from the away results. Thank God Ke Deutscher had gotten in, the have worst kind of we’d dictator- ship. an anti-everything There’s man for you, a militarist, anti- Christ, anti-human, anti-intellectual. called People us up, you know, joking but not joking. Said if Deutscher became President they wanted to go in live 1492. Of not our course business it’s to co now. All you got to worry about is

20 30 40

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright . . OU SHOOT IT .Y Ray Bradbury Don Congdon Associates, Inc. AKE YOU THERE ET AFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST .W Thunder .S A Sound NC ,I AFARI S of IME e guarantee nothing,” said the official, the “except T OU NAME THE ANIMAL A warm phlegmthroat; gathered in Eckels’s he swallowed and “Does this safari guarantee I come back alive?” “W Y eck for ten thousand dollars to the man behind the desk. pushed it down. The muscles around his mouth formed a smile as he put his hand slowly out upon the air, and in that hand a waved ch dinosaurs.” He turned. “This is Mr. Travis, your Safari Guide in the Past. tell you He’ll what and where to shoot. If he says no shooting, no shooting. If you disobey instructions, a stiff there’s penalty of another ten thousand dollars, plus possible government action, on your return.” The The sign on the wall seemed to under quaver a film of sliding warm water. Eckels felt his eyelids blink his over stare, and the sign burned in this momentary darkness: “A Sound of Thunder” by Copyright Ray © Bradbury. 1952 by the Crowell-Collier Publishing Co.; copyright renewed © 1980 by Reprinted Ray by Bradbury. permission of 10 Collection 8: Evaluating Style Part 1 5). Underline the -

esult from not follow-

It takes place some- time in the future. Pause at line 16. Why do you think there is such a stiff penalty for disobeying instructions? Possible response: Time travel is danger- ous, and harm could r ing the rules. 222 Pause after you read the sign (lines 4 the story takes place? information that seems unusual. Based on this information, when do you think Peter Bollinger. Peter

Student Pages with Answers 113 Collection 8 Student pages 224–225 225 what

To 113, which - imagery. 107 that tells you - A Sound of Thunder the senses of sight, smell, touch, and hearing senses do these images Underline the sentence in lines 103 capitalized? It is capitalized to emphasize its importance. Re-read lines 111 appeal? the purpose of “the Path.” Why do you think the term is are full of Don’t that. us us here. to have pay We Remember none of them exists.” like “is the jungle of sixty mil- — — ason! If you fall off, a penalty. there’s And don’t ep our franchise. A Time Machine is finicky Mr. pointed Travis re ke

— bribes. any to y?” asked Eckels. n.: indicated indicated a metal path that struck off into green wilder- 3 e don’t want to e change don’t the Future. belong here don’t We

hrist isn’t born hrist yet,”isn’t said Travis. has “Moses not gone to hat” nd nd that,” he said, “is the Path, laid by Time Safari for as one grass blade, flower, or tree. an anti-gravity It’s

.For .For He “A “Wh They sat in the ancient wilderness. Far birds’ cries blew on “W The Machine howled. Time was a film run backward. Suns The Machine slowed; its scream fell to a murmur. The The sun stopped in the sky. The fog that had the enveloped Machine blew and away “C The men nodded. “T hine stopped. ch c ica seem like Illinois.” r ast in any way. Stay on the Path. go off Don’t it. I repeat. our use. It floats six inches the above earth. touch so Doesn’t lion two thousand and fifty-five years before Keith.” President ness, streaming over swamp, among giant ferns and palms. y mu metal. Its purpose is to keep you from touching this world of the P go off shoot okay.” any animal we don’t a wind, and the smell of tar and an old salt sea, moist grasses, and the flowers color of blood. in the Past. The government doesn’t big graft fled and ten million moons fled after them. “Think,” said Eckels. “Every hunter that ever would lived us envy today. This makes Af Ma they were in an old time, a very old time indeed, three hunters and two Safari Heads with their blue metal guns across their knees. the mountain to talk with God. The Pyramids are still in the earth, waiting to be cut out and put up. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler 3. graft

100 110

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright hunter hunter ever real The Tyrant Lizard,The Tyrant the most incredi- 2019. 1999! 1957! Gone! The Machine . D . A 2055. annosaurus rex. . r D . A Ty ood luck,” said the man behind the desk. “Mr. Travis, he’s an these guns get a dinosaur cold?” Eckels felt his mouth Shooting Shooting my dinosaur,” Eckels finished it for him. They put on their helmets oxygen and tested the intercoms. Eckels on swayed the padded seat, his face pale, his jaw stiff. “C “If you hit them right,” on the helmet said radio. Travis “ “A Eckels flushed angrily. to scare “Trying me!” “Frankly, yes. want going panic anyone who’ll at don’t the We Mr. Eckels looked at the check. His fingers twitched. “G They silently moved across the room, taking their guns felt the trembling in his arms, and he looked down and

ome ome dinosaurs two have brains, one in the head, another far aring light. ith them, the toward Machine, the toward metal silver and the esperance; and two other hunters, Billings and Kramer. They unters. here to give you the thrillseverest a We’re ou, not responsible. we’re Those dinosaurs are hungry.” roared. He found his hands tight on the new rifle. There were four other men in the Machine. Travis, the Safari Leader; his assistant, L sat looking at each other, and the years blazed around them. saying. “S down the spinal column. from stay those.away We That’s stretching luck. Put your first two shots into the eyes, if you can, blind them, and go back into the brain.” ble ble monster in history. Sign this release. Anything happens to y first shot. Six Safari leaders were killed last year, and a dozen h asked for. you back sixty million years to Traveling bag the biggest game in all of Time. still there.personal check’s it Your up.” Tear all yours.” w ro First a day and then a night and then a day and then a night, then it was day-night-day-night-day. A week, a month, a year, a decade! 50 60 70 80 Collection 8: Evaluating Style 58. What do - Part 1 77 that mean “Eckels - me Safari, Inc.? It conducts very dan- gerous trips. Pause at line 52. What animal is Eckels hunting? Circle the answer. said.” What does this phrase Re-read lines 54 Ti Circle the words in lines 76 reveal about Eckels? these details suggest about Eckels is nervous and feels disconnected from what he is saying. 224

114 The Holt Reader: Teacher’s Manual Collection 8 Student pages 226–227 can 227 n.: ¥n) ◊√ ·pre ≤ (d 171)? - A Sound of Thunder Notes Notes depression major economic downturn. What mean does when Travis he says not he’s sure whether “messing around in Time make a big roar or a little rustle in history” (lines 169 He wonders whether changing something in the past will create a big change, a little change, or any change in the future. can in amounts too small to be adv.: ) ≤ i·m¥l· √ mass mass starvation, and, finally, a change , fin·i·tes ≈ be changed by us. Or maybe it can be changed in ( step step off!” ?” depression can’t can’t ass mperament in countries.far-flung Something much gr Never te orrect. Crushing certain plants could add up infinitesi- A little error here would multiply in sixty million years, 5 ial “I see,” said Eckels. “Thenpay for us it even wouldn’t to “C measured. ybe Time soc ou looked close you wouldn’t ou see looked it. close you wouldn’t really Who knows? Who ou crush the Pyramids. Step on a mouse and your you leave

ouch ouch the

all out of proportion. Of course maybe our theory is wrong. Ma only in little subtle ways. A dead mouse here makes an insect imbalance there, a population disproportion later, a bad harvest further on, a in more subtle, like that. only Perhaps a soft breath, a whisper, a hair, pollen on the air, such a slight, slight change that unless y know.guessing. don’t can say he We knows? We’re But until we do know for certain whether our messing around in Time make a big roar or a little rustle in history, being careful. we’re y print, like a Grand Canyon, across Eternity. Queen Elizabeth might never be born, might not cross the Washington Delaware, there might never be States a at United all. So be careful. Stay on the Path. 5. infinitesimally t mally. Peter Bollinger. Peter

160 170

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright man, first one, possible expendable annihilate billion Step Step on a mouse and any 4 on all the tigers in that m his loins would have ro .F stepped loins one hundred sons, and thus single mouse. So the man cave starves. swarming; overflowing. one their adj.: future future nation

) oes hunting wild boar or tiger saber-toothed re i« √ ,g ti m ≤ en t ( hat’s not clear,”hat’s said Eckels. ll right,” continued, Travis we “say accidentally kill one nd all the families of the families of the families of that o they’re o dead,”they’re said Eckels. “So what?” o what?” snorted quietly. Travis “Well, what about the people, an entire history of life. It is comparable to slaying

“T “A “Right.” “A “S “S ,a entire world entire on. By stepping on ce gi nd the man,cave please note, is not just ises on its seven hills. is Europe forever a Perhaps dark forest, business. knowing Not it, we might kill an important animal, a small bird, a roach, a even,flower thus destroying an important link in a growing species.” mouse here. That means all the future families of this one particular mouse are destroyed, right?” one a mouse! With stamp of your foot, you then a dozen, then a thousand, a million, a mice!” that’ll need those foxes mice to survive? For want of ten mice, a dies.fox For want of ten foxes, a lion starves. For want of a lion, all manner of insects, vultures, infinite billions of life forms are thrown into chaos and destruction. it Eventually all boils down to this: Fifty-nine million years later, a man,cave one of a dozen in the for food. But you, friend, have 4. teeming re A no! He is an sprung ten sons. From onward to onward a civilization. this Destroy one man, and you a destroy ra some of grandchildren. Adam’s The stomp of your foot, on one mouse, could start an earthquake, the effects of which could shake our earth and destinies down through Time, to their very foundations. the With death of that one man,cave a billion others yet unborn are throttled in the womb. Rome never Perhaps r and only Asia healthy and waxes teeming. 120 130 140 150 v.: d¥·b¥l) Collection 8: Evaluating Style ) √ ≈ ¥·l†t √ (ek·spen ¥·n¢ ( Part 1 155), Travis explains 155), the Travis worth sacrificing to gain - Notes destroy; wipe out. expendable adj.: an objective. Notes annihilate In this long paragraph (lines 130 possible effects of stepping off the path and killing a mouse. Each effect, in turn, becomes the cause of another event. What is the final mentions? effect Travis There might never be a United States. 226

Student Pages with Answers 115 Collection 8 Student pages 228–229 229 n.: 211, and - ·¥m) √≤ (di·lir A Sound of Thunder The style is rich and layered, like an over- grown jungle. Re-read lines 206 style of the writing here? circle repeated words. Then, underline the imaginative description of pterodactyls. How would you describe the Pause at line 231. Whom be might referring Travis to as “His Royal Majesty”? delirium Pause at line 217. The guides keep telling Eckels, “Stay on the Path!” What do their warnings lead you to predict? Someone, probably Eckels, will leave the path. rex a Tyrannosaurus extreme mental disturbance, often accompanied by hallucinations (seeing things that are not there). ” ?” on the Path!

ay annosaurus r St Ty ” — . said Eckels. shaking “I’m like a kid.” and night fever. Eckels, balanced on the narrow Path, is raised his hand. he “Ahead,” whispered. “In the mist. p that!” said Travis. even aim for “Don’t fun, blast you! ange,” murmured Eckels. ahead, “Up sixty million years, ” the word. Stay on the Path. h,” said Travis. eryone stopped.

afety catches off, everyone!” Travis. ordered “You, first tr to av it, esperance checked esperance his checked wristwatch. ahead. “Up bisect We’ll ilence. uddenly it all ceased, as if someone had shut a door. Sh!” ve They forward moved in the wind of morning. “S “S “I’ve hunted tiger, wild boar, buffalo, elephant, but now, “A Ev Tr The jungle was wide and full of twitterings, rustlings, mur- S S A sound of thunder. Out of the mist, one hundred yards away, came “It,” whispered Eckels. “It . . .” “ Eckels Eckels flushed. our “Where’s L The jungle was high and the jungle was broad and the jun- “S rs, and sighs. gi our guns should go off annosaurus rex

r y nd here we are, a million years lost, and exist.they don’t The le was the entire world forever and forever. Sounds like music Election Day over. made Keith President. celebrating. Everyone A things we worried about for months, a lifetime, not even born or thought of yet.” shot, Eckels. Second, Billings. Third, Kramer.” this is There he is. Majesty His Royal now.” There’s mu Ty his trail in sixty seconds. Look for the shoot red paint! till Don’t we g and sounds like flying tents filled the sky, and those were pterodactyls soaring with gray cavernous wings, gigantic bats of delirium aimed his rifle playfully. If

210 220 230 240

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright , you alive?” — are?” meaning we we — careful our Safari! did How it this expedition was a suc- us, if said the latter. permit “Time doesn’t ,” a man meeting himself. such When occa- paradox — got got out alive.” — got our monster, or whether all of us is and Lesperance each gave other a look. hat’d be a hat’d hey’re marked withhey’re red paint,” said Travis. “Today, before ut that,” sharply. said Travis on “Everyone his feet!” tudying them?” av Tr “T Eckels smiled palely. “C They were ready to the leave Machine. “But “But if you came back this morning in Time,” said Eckels “How do “How we know which animals to shoot?” “T “S “Right,” said Lesperance. “I track them through their entire if we nster nster not more than two minutes before he would died have xistence, noting which of them longest.lives few. Very How ess, that sort of mess sions threaten, Time steps aside. Like an airplane hitting an air pocket. felt the Machine jump just before You we stopped? That was us passing on ourselves the way back to the Future. saw We nothing. no way of There’s telling c Mr. Eckels eagerly, bumped “you must’ve into it successful? Did turn all out? Was of us get through This This Machine, this Path, your clothing and bodies, were sterilized, as you know, before the journey. wear these oxygen We helmets introduce so our we bacteria can’t into an ancient atmosphere.” our journey, we sent Lesperance here back with the Machine. He came to this particular era and followed certain animals.” e many times they mate. often. Not short. Life’s I When find one going to die that’s when a tree falls on him, or one that drowns in a tar pit, I note the exact hour, minute, and second. I shoot a paint bomb. It a leaves red patch on his side. miss it. can’t We Then I our correlate arrival in the so Past that we meet the Mo anyway. This way, we kill only animals with no future, that are never going to mate again. see how You 180 190 200 n.: Collection 8: Evaluating Style ) ≈ 202. What - ¥·däks √ Part 1 (par think? Will the expe- you Pause at line 175. Why do the travelers wear sterilized clothing and oxygen helmets? They don't want to introduce bacteria into the past because that might change the future. Killing animals with no future will not affect future events. Re-read lines 195 end in tragedy? Most students will predict that something will go wrong. 228 Pause at line 190. Why are only animals that are about to die anyway chosen for hunting? paradox something that has or seems to have contradictory qualities. dition be a success, or will it do

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Collection 8 Student pages 230–231 231 287)? What do the - A Sound of Thunder way. How does Eckels react when he sees the dinosaur (lines 260 guides tell him to do? Eckels is afraid and wants to run; the guides tell him to go back to the Time Machine. He steps off because he is in a daze; his action could change the future in some path? What effect might this Pause at line 302. What causes Eckels to step off the action have? the e iek and -stone onds. littered d with a Hide in the ries, cram to ith slime, ath, and walked, o green moss. His slime and old ve. I had good ith sun. orm from the leaf and branch. tail swung up, swung tail e from the events wn to fondle at the at fondle to wn raw flesh blew down blew flesh raw I figured wrong. I’ve uch uch for me to get hold en while the monster ev 7 move in waves. v.: ) ≈ j¥·l†t √ way!” un ( ok a few steps, blinking, shuffling. that to et me out of here,” said Eckels. “It was never like this es.” Eckels seemed to be numb. He looked at his feet as if The rifles cracked again. Their sound was lost in shr Eckels, not looking back, walked blindly to the edge of “Not “Not The Monster, at the first motion, lunged forwar “Eckels!” He “Y “Don’t run,”“Don’t said Lesperance. around. “Turn “G The Tyrant Lizard raisedThe Tyrant itself. Its armored flesh g ble scream. one It hundred yards covered in six sec hine.” ng to make them move. a He gave grunt of helplessness. rri yi ath, his gun limp in his arms, stepped off the P them into its teeth and its screaming throat. Its boulder men, to twist them in half, to crush them like ber The Monster The twitched hands Monster its do jeweler’s lashed sideways. exploded in clouds of Trees lizard lizard thunder. The great level of the reptile’s behind. not knowing it, in the jungle. His feet sank int legs him,moved and he felt alone and remot P te blood. The roared,Monster teeth glittering w beast’s mouth engulfed them beast’s in the stench of The rifles jerked up and blazed fire. A windst Mac tr of.” met my match and admit it. This is too m guides, good safaris, and safety. This time, like like a thousand green coins. The coins, crusted w steamed. In the slime, tiny insects wriggled, so that the entir body body seemed to twitch and undulate, itself did not move. It exhaled. The stink of the wilderness. before. I was come through sure always I’d ali 7. undulate

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Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright ” e ont, o the a ton of ostrich et.” rees rees and ons. It moved hest. Each folding its deli- erdict quietly, white white bone, sunk leam of pebbled leaving leaving prints six reat breathing cage eighed the evidence ifle in his hands . Its mouth gaped, said Eckels. “I miscal- It ran with a gliding ” iding legs. It towered tr big, ,s esilient r one half your fee.” of a terrible warrior. Each thigh was a ton of Eckels Eckels twitched his mouth. “It could reach up mit 6 ,” re hy us!” here, flexible metal armor. ,w t up!” hissed Travis. ees hy s n.: here’s the red paint on here’s its chest!” urn around,” quietly commanded Travis.t “Walk hu came on great oiled, Sh!” jerked angrily. Travis seen us “He hasn’t y “It “It “T “I didn’t realize it “I would be didn’t this “T “S “Nightmare.” “It can’t be killed.”“It can’t Eckels this pronounced v “W “ It hine. We’ll posing a fence of teeth like daggers. Its eyes rolled, ys, while the snake neck coiled. And the head itself, Mac culated, all. that’s And now I want out.” and this was his opinion.considered The r seemed a cap gun. were fools to come. “We This is impossible. as if there could be no argument. He had w ballet step, far too poised and balanced for its ten t into a sunlit arena warily, its beautifully reptilian hands feeling the air. and grab the moon.” inches inches deep wherever it settled its weight. bushes, its taloned feet clawing damp earth, a death grin. It ran, its pelvic bones crushing aside t eggs, empty of all hunger.expression save It closed its mouth in skin like the mail sculptured sculptured stone, lifted easily upon the sky ex in thick ropes of muscle, sheathed in over a g to lower leg lower was a piston, a thousand pounds of arms with hands which might pick up and examine men lik cate watchmaker’s claws close to its cate oily watchmaker’s reptilian c of the upper body those two delicate arms dangled out fr thirty feet halfabove of the trees, a great evil god, meat, ivory, and steel mesh. And from the g 6. mail 250 260 270 able Collection 8: Evaluating Style in lines adj.: return .: y¥nt) v √ ) √ Part 1 (ri·zil (ri·mit 259. Underline at least - esilient emit Notes r to return to its original shape quickly after being stretched or compressed; elastic. The author uses rich figurative language 241 four metaphors or similes that help you visualize the fearsome dinosaur. Read the boxed passage aloud twice. Focus on reading the figures of speech clearly and dramatically. r payment. Notes 230

Student Pages with Answers 117 HRT9_pp_101_149 10/3/03 3:26 PM Page 118 impos03 108:hrhrt9r1:hrt9ch:layouts:

Collection 8 Student pages 232–233 233 376. cancel; - v.: ) √ (ri·v£k A Sound of Thunder evoke Pause at line 355. Why do you think the two hunters, do Billings not and Kramer, want to take “trophy pictures”? They are too horrified at what they’ve done to want to it. record Re-read lines 369 r withdraw. Underline what Travis Underline fears what Travis might happen because Eckels stepped off the path. ifle ! Look They sank shoes eaming .“This fool .“This take take a picture We’re leaving eady eady strange ly, so the The body has to “You want “You the can y were intended to. ” antee antee no one leaves o report to the gov- — us! We’ll forfeit! us! We’ll uins r so much, no. his It’s our license to travel. knows Who that revoke hat?” e can’t take a e back trophy can’t to the Future. et up!” cried Travis. here.” Lesperance his checked watch. “Right on time. picture?” esperance seized Travis’s arm. esperance seized Travis’s “Wait Stay Stay out of this!” shook his hand away Travis Go out on that alone,”Path said Travis. He had his r he’s done to Time,he’s to History!” “ L “G “I’m sorry,”“I’m he said at last. Eckels got up. “ A sound on the floor of the Time Machine stiffened them. The two men tried to think, but up,gave shaking their They let be themselves led along the metal Path. “W “W “T hy hy erything in balance. The body stays. But we ptilian birds and golden insects were busy at the st earily into the Machine cushions. They gazed back at the hat op ou here!” uined Monster, the stagnating mound, where alr w ernment. They might the Path. He left it. Oh, the fool! I’ll t have Thousands of dollars of guar insurance! We nearly killed us. But it isn’t at them! He ran off the Path. That y Eckels Eckels sat there, shivering. not coming back pointed.in the Machine. “You’re re armor. r of you standing near it.” heads. w Ev insects, birds, and bacteria can get at it, as the tr stay right here where it would died have original mal originally.” He glanced at the two hunters. That’s the giant That’s tree that was scheduled to fall and kill this ani-

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Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright o ves . one. e, dead on gauze closing up annosaurus ree branch neath. The vering. He hambers of it is. reen reen peace. from from its Tyr ith it. It o the Machine. Sickening gushes Within, you who were sitting omotive or omotive a steam ves mirrored. They listening. leased or levered tight. mored mored tail, twitched its ashed upon the dead is came walking, glanced at Eckels, took cott the Time Machine, on his face, Eckels lay shi lings and Kramer sat on the and pathway threw up lean up.” av nother cracking sound. Overhead, a gigantic t “C They wiped the blood from their helmets. They began t Tr A In Bil The thunder faded. The jungle was silent. After the avalanche, a g Like Like a stone idol, like a mountain avalanche, is and Lesperance stood with smoking rifles, cursing r the nightmare, morning. ight, snapped the delicate forearms, caught under enched enched and the tore metal Path. The men flung themsel te av es leveled with the men. They saw themsel ould hear the sighs and murmurs as the furthest c from from a metal box, and returned to the others, c died, the organs malfunctioning, liquids running a final instant on the Path. curse too. The lay,Monster a hill of solid flesh. from pocket to sac to spleen, everything shutting off, beast with finality. meat settled, quivering. from broke its heavy mooring, fell. It cr had found his way back to the Path, climbed int forever. It was like standing by a wrecked loc we Tr steadily. at shovel quitting time, all being valves re Bones cracked; the tonnage of its own flesh, off balanc back and away. The body hit, ten tons of cold flesh and st The guns fired. The lashed Monster its ar snake jaws, and lay still. A fount of blood spurted throat. Somewhere inside, a sac of fluids burst. drenched the hunters. They stood, red and g Af fell. Thundering, it clutched trees, pulled them w wr fired fired at the metallic eyelids and the blazing black ir ey 310 320 330 340 Collection 8: Evaluating Style means “not” (line 334) - mal Part 1 318 that help you visual- - Peter Bollinger. What two things is the dinosaur compared to in line 311? What type of figurative language is each comparison? a stone idol and a mountain avalanche; the comparisons are similes Circle the words in lines 311 ize the violent death of the giant dinosaur. The prefix means? It means “not func- tioning” or “function- ing badly.” 232 or “bad.” What do you think malfunctioning

118 The Holt Reader: Teacher’s Manual Collection 8 Student pages 234–235 in 235 ¥·n¥l) √ (sub·lim 442 that describe sensory images - 418 that indicate that below the level of - A Sound of Thunder Circle the lines 428 pieces? People, like chess pieces, are helpless to determine their own fates. Eckels’s feeling Eckels’s that something is not right. Why does he compare people to chess Eckels’s actions Eckels’s have had an effect on life in his present. Pause at line 415. Do you think that Eckels will find that he has “done nothing” when he gets back to the future? Most students will predict that there will be an effect from his mis- take. Underline clues in lines 416 subliminal adj.: awareness. .His feel at?” was a staring . . . were . . . And there senses warned him it was there. The colors, is looked around swiftly. “Everything okay here?” he is did not relax. He seemed to be looking at the very .... et out,” said Travis. t the immediate thing was the sign painted on the office ou heard me,” said you Travis. “What’re av av subliminal Okay, Eckels, get out. ever come back.” Don’t ind “I’m innocent.“I’m I’ve done nothing!” 1999. 2000. 2055. The Machine stopped. “G The room was there as they had left it. But not the same as Tr “Fine. home!” Welcome Tr “ Eckels could not move. “Y Eckels stood smelling of the air, and there was a thing to Bu Somehow, the sign had changed: w y is body screamed silence in return. Beyond this room, beyond flesh twitched. His hands twitched. He stood drinking the odd- ness with the pores of his body. Somewhere, someone must have been screaming one of those whistles that only a dog can hear. H this wall, beyond this man who was not quite the same man seated at this desk that was not quite the same desk . . . lay an entire world of streets and people. sort What of world it was now, there was no telling. He could feel them moving there, beyond the walls, almost, like so many chess pieces blown in a dr they had left it. The same man sat behind the same desk. But the same man did not quite sit behind the same desk. snapped. atoms of the air itself, at the way the sun poured through the one high window. the air, a chemical taint so subtle, so slight, that only a faint cry of his white, gray, blue, orange, in the wall, in the furniture, in the sky beyond the window, were wall, the same sign he had read earlier on today first entering.

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Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright — garbage primeval get get down and pray?” — ?” know anything! cried don’t Travis. “We know turned, shuddering, five minutes later, his arms is glared at Eckels’s is checkbook and glared spat.at Eckels’s “Go out there. re ho can tell?” e might need it. warning I’m you, Eckels, I might kill

hat’s unreasonable!” hat’s dead,he Monster’s you idiot. The bullets! The bullets ake ake it easy, all he did was kick up some dirt.” ou didn’t have to have make him ou do didn’t that,” said Lesperance. av “T do “How we Eckels Eckels fumbled his shirt. “I’ll pay anything. A hundred Tr “T “T The jungle was again,alive full of the old tremorings and He “Y too early to I? tell.”nudged the It’s still “Didn’t body. Travis 1492. 1776. 1812. They cleaned their hands and faces. They changed their look at “Don’t me,” cried Eckels. done anything.” “I haven’t “W ran “Just off the Path, all, that’s a little mud on my shoes “W jerked jerked his thumb wearily at Lesperance. on. “Switch go Let’s all a mystery! Get out of here, Eckels!”

’s ou yet. I’ve got my gun ready.” hange anything. my knife. Here’s Dig them out!” It thousand dollars!” next to the The Path.Monster’s Stick your arms up to your elbows in his mouth. Then you can come back with us.” be left can’t behind. belong They in don’t the Past; they might c bird cries. Eckels turned slowly to regard the dump, that hill of nightmares and terror. After a long time, like a he sleepwalker shuffled out along the Path. soaked and red to the elbows. He held out his hands. Each held a number of steel bullets. Then he fell. He lay where he fell, not moving. live.“He’ll go time Next hunting he game won’t like this. Okay.” He home.” caking shirts and pants. Eckels was up and around again, not speaking. glared at him for Travis a full ten minutes. what do you want me to do y 380 390 400 410 adj.: Collection 8: Evaluating Style v¥l) ≤√ Part 1 (pr¢·m ravis wants Eckels to ravis want Eckels to do as Notes Pause at line 388. What does T punishment? T dig the bullets out of the dead dinosaur. primeval primitive; of the earliest times. Notes 234

Student Pages with Answers 119 Collection 8 Student pages 236–237 237 . and the A Sound of Thunder style annosaurus rex r Ty “The Tyrant Lizard “The raised Tyrant itself. Its armored flesh glittered like a thousand green coins. The coins, crusted with slime, steamed. In the slime, tiny insects wriggled, so that the entire body seemed to twitch and undulate, even while the monster itself did not move. It exhaled. The stink of raw flesh blew down the wilderness.” metaphors, similes, personification Describe Bradbury’s Style Describe Bradbury’s Describe the Story’s Describe Mood the Story’s — ds that appeal to sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell A Sound of Thunder r wo — Ray Ray Bradbury uses language to a re-create lush prehistoric setting. Passage One Passage Two figures figures of speech imagery of the story. • • see and feel the vast jungle and its huge inhabitant, the Sample response: Bradbury’s style Sample is response: Bradbury’s vividly descriptive and almost poetic because of his use of imagery and figures of speech. Sample response: The mood is awesome; terrifying; mysterious; hypnotic.

derline figures of speech, circle the images, and around examples draw boxes We passages The below boxed contain some of stylistic Bradbury’s devices: Un of repetition. Then, in the space provided, describe the writer’s mood Style Chart

“The jungle was high and the jungle was broad and the jungle was the entire world Sounds forever like and forever. music and sounds like flying tents filled and the those sky, were pterodactyls, soaring with cavernous gray wings, gigantic bats of delirium and night fever.”

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright — hange c Peter Bollinger. couldn’t important! Could it? that thing like that. No!” ! Not ! a Not butterfly!” cried Eckels. it alive again? Can’t we it start again? alive Can’t over? little that make be. a Not shoot itt. can’t we can’t

, can’t Yu ee taekyuthair. ” naim the animall.

back W — did not move. shut, Eyes he waited, shivering. He heard Yu

ll. Deutscher, of else? Who course! that Not fool weakling fell fell to the floor, an thing,exquisite a small thing that is face was cold. His mouth trembled, asking: “Who

Eckels Eckels felt himself fall into a chair. He fumbled crazily at H The man behind the know desk laughed. You joking? “You Eckels moaned. He dropped to his knees. He scrabbled at He There was a sound of thunder. Embedded in the mud, glistening green and gold and black, a “Not little thing like It we Tyme Sefari, Inc. is breathe loud in the room; shift his he rifle, heard Travis

take take it the world, to himself, to the officials, to the Machine, “can’t ith. got an iron man We now, a man with guts!” The official av ry

Sefaris tu any yeer en the past. ould ould upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes the thick slime on his boots. He held up a clod of dirt, trembling, “No, it things. be Killing one butterfly couldn’t who won the presidential election yesterday?” ve Ke stopped. wrong?” “What’s the golden butterfly with shaking fingers. we,” “Can’t he pleaded to we we Can’t Tr click the safety catch, and raise the weapon. was a butterfly, very beautiful and very dead. c and then big dominoes and then gigantic dominoes, all down the years across Time. mind whirled. Eckels’s It 450 460 470 Collection 8: Evaluating Style Part 1 The killing set off a chain reaction that ended in the election of Deutscher as president. Compare this sign with the one at the beginning of the How are story. they the same or different? The message is the same, but the spelling is very different. Pause at line 462. What was the main effect of Eckels’s killing of the butterfly? What is the “sound of thunder” in line 471? It is a rifle shot. Travis has killed Eckels for changing the world as he knew it. 236

120 The Holt Reader: Teacher’s Manual Collection 8 Student pages 238–239 239 ocabulary V Skills Use prefixes to define words. Use words in context. like a A Sound of Thunder primeval depression the past. t immortal, remi evisit r “visit again” and could be left behind if something went “not mortal” , meaning “below” , meaning “came before” , meaning “back; again” The dinosaur seemed terrifying pagan god. After their adventure, the travelers had no desire to re- sub- pre- evoke 3. 4. r expendable I have been wanting to go to the (1) forest, they journey Prefixes Prefixes and Meanings the oldest place open to time travelers. I have money to pay the hefty fee, though the world is in an economic (2) Inc., Historic will Travels, (3) ties (4) packed The light, Traveler Time bringing nothing that was not (5) wrong. But nothing could go wrong, could it? . Besides, my fee if the authori- the company's license and cancel the trip. A A Sound of Thunder unchanged, , meaning “not” extraordinary un- Complete the paragraph below by writing a word from the word box to fit Read each Then, sentence write carefully. the definition of , or evoke remit “not changed” esilient r , meaning “outside; beyond” r paradox delirium primeval annihilate subliminal “beyond ordinary” depression depression im- expendable , meaning “out” Word Box Word Box , keep the world

in- ex- extra- Eckels took an into the past. To were ordered to stay on the Path. ocabulary ocabulary in Context

Skills Review 1. 2. Skills Review Prefixes DIRECTIONS: each boldface word on the line Refer below. to the chart above for help. V DIRECTIONS: each numbered blank. Not all words from the box will be used.

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. rights All Winston. and Rinehart Holt, by © Copyright be fit. best not best can of “A Sound of style A. is wrong because this tells you that the cor- mood — D except are not correct because word humorous matter-of-fact sparse richly descriptive relaxed quiet terrifying evil C Overall, Bradbury's described as A B C D Which of the following words describes the Thunder”? F G H J and 3. 4. The correct answer is The word rect answer is the one that does choice and sentence length are elements of style. story is full of figurative language, another component of style. The story does not include any charac- ters who speak in a regional dialect. B Explanation of the Correct Answer or diction, ? be described A A Sound of Thunder best — Circle the letter of each correct answer. except Sample Test Item Sample Test figure figure of speech is created by all the following “Stay on the Path.” “They were ready to leave the Machine.” “That'd be a paradox.” “Each lower leg was a piston . . .” flat vivid everyday technical — regional dialect diction, or word choice sentence length and pattern figurative language Which passage from the story contains a A B C D In Bradbury's this story, word choice, can as F G H J In “A Bradbury’s Sound of Thunder,” style elements A B C D Complete the sample test item Then, and below. check read your the answer, explanation that appears in the right-hand box. 1. Collection 8: Evaluating Style DIRECTIONS: 2. Part 1 mood. Analyze figurative elements of language and style, including Skills Review Literary Skills Skills Review 238

Student Pages with Answers 121 Name Date

Selection Title

Style Chart

Style is the distinctive way a writer uses language. It is created through diction (word choice), sentence length and pattern, and the images and figurative language the author uses. These elements also shape the story’s mood. The chart below lists some elements of style. Give examples of each from the selection you have just read. Then, describe their effects on the selection. Finally, describe the mood of the selection.

Element of Style Example Effect Diction

Figures of Speech

Images

Graphic Organizers 219