Compare and contrast Eckels and Travis in "A Sound of Thunder."

Eckels in "A Sound of Thunder" is shown to be a man who
has bitten off more than he can realistically chew. As he sees the sign advertising the
Time Safari at the beginning of the story, a "warm phlegm" gathers in his throat, and as
he is offered a chance to tear up the check, his fingers twitch, showing his nerves and
foreshadowing his failure to face the T-Rex. It is when he does confront the T-Rex that
Eckels completely despairs of getting out of this experience alive, which leads him to
leave the path and crush the butterfly which is enough to change the
future.

Travis, in comparison, is presented as the guide of
the group, confident and knowledgeable about how the time machine operates and the
various rules that need to be followed. It is he who is entrusted with ensuring that
what they do in the past does not influence the future, and thus he is a very angry at
what Eckels did and how he endangered the future, threatening to live him there in the
past and forcing him to get the bullets out of the T-Rex. He is a strong man, in
comparison with Eckels, who knows what is needed to be done and acts upon
it.

Interestingly, when we compare both of these
characters, it is Travis more than Eckels I think who appears as the hero of the piece.
Eckels is presented as a weak man who is easily overwhelmed by the T-Rex, in spite of
his hunting experience. It is Travis who shows courage, strength and resilience, even if
we might question his treatment of Eckels and the final action that leads to the "sound
of thunder" that closes the story.