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Travis kills Eckels at the end of the story. Why does he do this?

Ah, but does Travis kill Eckels? We only know that the final “sound of thunder” is probably a gunshot. Travis could kill Eckels. Or he could kill himself. Obviously, Eckels accidentally changes the future when he steps off the path and onto a butterfly. He has been told the rules and the need for them to be followed. But the dinosaur so terrifies him, that he is lucky enough to even make it back to safety of the time machine. The group cannot go back and repair the damage he has done. And now people have to live with a dictator as a president, instead of a compassionate leader. Someone has to pay the price for the mistake. If Travis kills Eckels, he’s issuing the ultimate penalty for the man’s blunder. If Travis kills himself, he won’t have to live under this new regime, and he won’t have to answer to authorities about the fault of Time Safari to use time travel wisely. But Eckels, in turn, would have to live with his mistake. Which fate would be worse?

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