Arrogance In Ray Bradbury's 'A Sound Of Thunder'

The Sound of Arrogance Time is more than just a number that sequentially increases at all time, it is its own individual dimension. No matter how much people try to stop, whatever people experience, good or bad, time will continuously move with nothing bringing it to a halt. In the short story by Ray Bradbury, “A Sound of Thunder,” a tour guide, named Travis and his company, Time Safari Inc. believed that they can manipulate and control time for entertainment to make money. When a man named Eckles stepped off the set path in the past and changed the present of which they left, he is killed and blamed for the change. The change of time, which was the downfall of the company, happened because of the tour guide, Travis, and the company, Time
Safari Inc., arrogance and careless lack of responsibility. Time Safari Inc.,’s arrogance and belief that they can control time led to the company’s downfall which ultimately changed the course of the present. The company arrogance put many people in danger of getting hurt both in the time machine.
Through the company, going back in time is a great risk for the hunters who participate. When talking to the secretary at the desk, Eckles was told that, “Six Safari leaders were killed last year, and a dozen hunters.” The company violates the virtue of justice in which Marcus Cicero states, “Men are sometimes unwilling to incur the enmity…or the cost involved in such defense; or by mere carelessness…in employments of their own, they are so retarded in their movements as to leave undefended those whom they ought to protect.” Travis and the company are so caught up in their own beliefs that they leave and don’t focus on who they should be protecting. The company puts the men who go into the machine in a risk which outweighs the entertainment for a hunting
trip. In the case that someone would get hurt in prehistoric times, the company Time Safari Inc. takes no responsibility in any injury. Travis and his company are so caught up in the idea that they can control time, they not only risk the hunter’s safety, but don’t even consider if they do get hurt. As Eckles spoke to the secretary at the desk, the secretary mentioned that the dinosaurs are hungry and the company doesn’t take any responsibility and any injury which any gets in the time machine is on them. Cicero states that when one has achieved victory, persons who are spared in the war for victory should be treated fairly and humanly. In the context of the Time Safari Inc., they have achieved their victory of time travel, but do anything to make sure that nothing is pinned on them. The company is so engrossed in their victory, they inhumanly do anything to avoid anything which could set them back. Along with all the risks and dangers Time Safari Inc.
places on is participators, they knowingly risked a danger which led straight to the failure of the company. As explained in the form of mice by Travis once he and Eckles already entered the time machine, an action in the past which a hunter takes part in ultimately has a domino effect which leads into the present, small or large. The company arrogantly took the risk of possibly morphing time into a different future. As stated again by Cicero, when questioning an act, one must figure out if the act has a legitimacy behind it or sought out for convenience or pleasure. If the act is for pleasure it is considered expedient, but if it has the possibility of harming someone, it is considered unacceptable. What Time Safari believes they can do had the possibility of not only harming a person, it possibly could have harmed the entire human
race. Time Safari Inc’s belief that time in is in their hands to play with led directly into their failure and the present both Eckles and Travis left to be changed drastically into a morphed reality. The company doesn’t assess the consequences and the people’s safety and the inhuman lack of responsibility. Also, the company actions are unacceptable and hurt the participants. With their arrogance risking the lives of the hunters who enter the time machine, to their lack of responsibility, and there toying with the possibility of time changing, the downfall of the company was imminent.