A Sound of Thunder
by Ray Bradbury

A Sound of Thunder: Setting 1 key example

Definition of Setting

Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:

Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" is set in two distinct times: the near future and the prehistoric past. The story first takes place in the year 2055 in the United States, the day after the presidential election between "anti-everything" Deutscher and all-American Keith. The narrative opens in an office for Time Safari, Inc., a company that takes people to the past to hunt down exotic or extinct animals. The office itself is unremarkable, but the Time Machine it houses is magnificent. A piece of technology that people in the 20th century could only dream of, the Time Machine allows people to not only manipulate time, but also cause inadvertent damage to the future. The story's exploration of this concept mirrors the rising fear of both authoritarian regimes and nuclear technology after World War II and into the Cold War.