Response questions to The Sound of Thunder: Please type your questions. You
should have a paragraph response to EACH question—you should end up with
about ¾ page (12-point font, single-spaced) worth of writing. Don’t type out the
questions.
The flapping of a single butterfly's wing today produces a tiny
change in the state of the atmosphere. Over a period of time,
what the atmosphere actually does diverges from what it would
have done. So, in a month's time, a tornado that would have
devastated the Indonesian coast doesn't happen. Or maybe one that
wasn't going to happen, does. (Ian Stewart, Does God Play Dice? The
Mathematics of Chaos, pg. 141)
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,
was a butterfly, very beautiful and very dead.
“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’ mind whirled. It couldn’t change
things. Killing one butterfly couldn’t be that important! Could
it? (Ray Bradbury, “The Sound of Thunder, Elements of Literature
pg. 44)
*****
1.) Just like how the dead butterfly causes massive changes in evolution over time,
one small change in your life can affect all of your decisions after that. For example,
I made a choice to transfer from the University of Nebraska to Nebraska Wesleyan after
the first semester of my freshman year, so that I could be a more integral part of the
cross-country team at NWU. I would never have been an All-American in cross-country,
I might not have stuck with my education program, and I’d most certainly not be teaching
at East…and everything else would be affected that followed that decision. What would
happen to your life, if you would go back and make one change, even if that change
was insignificant at the time? Describe in detail.
2.) Do you think that this kind of technology could possibly exist in the future?
What do you think might come close to this technology? How would people react to
it?
3.) “Nothing is bulletproof.” –Do you believe in this statement? Why or why not?
4.) Christian Middleton says, “What’s the point of being rich, if you can’t buy things
other people can’t afford?” What you think about this statement? Would you
agree or disagree with Christian?
5.) What were the rules that were broken on the safari? Why were these rules put
in place?
6.) What kind of rules, like in The Sound of Thunder, governs the characters/action
in your choice science fiction book?
7.) What is the point of “the path”? What could you compare “the path” to in real
life?