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Mr. Travis
Lesperance is another guide employed by Time Safari, Inc. His duty is to travel back in time ahead of a scheduled safari and find a dinosaur that is going to die anyway, then loop back again to mark the creature with red paint. The process is supposed to ensure that the hunters do not disturb the natural order. Lesperance appears more sympathetic than does Mr. Travis, protesting his punishment of Eckels.
Lesperance Quotes in A Sound of Thunder
The A Sound of Thunder quotes below are all either spoken by Lesperance or refer to Lesperance. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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A Sound of Thunder Quotes
Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, a small bird, a roach, a flower even, thus destroying an important link in a growing species. […] 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.
Related Characters:
Mr. Travis (speaker), Mr. Eckels, Lesperance
Related Symbols:
Butterfly
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Page Number and Citation:
214-215
Explanation and Analysis:
Shortly after arriving in the past, Mr. Travis explains the importance of following the rules and not stepping off the path. Human disruption of the prehistoric environment could have massive unforeseen consequences, and there is simply no way to predict what tiny error could cause a massive change in the natural and human future. While Lesperance assists somewhat with the explanation, Travis is the primary target of Eckels’ continuous questions for more details. The warning against killing “an important animal, a small bird, a roach” once again foreshadows the mistake on which the story’s entire logic turns: the crushing of a single butterfly.
“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.” […] Eckels, not looking back, walked blindly to the edge of the Path, his gun limp in his arms, stepped off the Path, and walked, not knowing it, in the jungle.
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Explanation and Analysis:
We can’t take a trophy back to the Future. The body has to 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
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Explanation and Analysis:
This ruins us! We’ll forfeit! Thousands of dollars of insurance! We guarantee no one leaves the Path. He left it. Oh, the fool! I’ll have to report to the government. They might revoke our licence to travel. Who knows what he’s done to Time, to History!
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Lesperance Character Timeline in A Sound of Thunder
The timeline below shows where the character Lesperance appears in A Sound of Thunder. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
A Sound of Thunder
...out their oxygen and intercoms. Eckels sits stiff and pale alongside Mr. Travis, fellow guide Lesperance, and two other hunters.
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Seemingly grasping the rules at last, Eckels asks which animals are okay to shoot. Lesperance explains that the party can safely shoot the specific animal he has previously marked for...
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...bit while waiting and Travis scolds him not to aim at anything but the dinosaur. Lesperance signals that the T. rex will soon approach. Eckels begins to muse on the incongruity...
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...proclaims, “It was never like this before. I was always sure I’d come through alive.” Lesperance reiterates the instructions to wait in the machine. Instead, dazed and unable to follow directions,...
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...the stillness of death like “a wrecked locomotive or a steam shovel at quitting time.” Lesperance offers two hunters who shot at the dinosaur a chance to pose for a photo,...
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...by the government. He eventually orders Eckels to retrieve the bullets from the dinosaur carcass. Lesperance scolds Travis for this, telling him that it was unnecessary, but Travis is unconvinced. He...
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When Eckels returns, covered in blood, they leave for the future. Lesperance suggests the punishment was unnecessary, but Travis claims that it will prevent Eckels from hunting...
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