In "A Sound of Thunder", how would you describe Eckles at the beginning and the end of the story?

In "A Sound of Thunder", Eckels is going on a time safari - he is paying a hunting company to send him and a group of guides to the distant past, using a time machine, so that he can hunt animals that are extinct in the modern period.

At the beginning of the story Eckels seems like a fairly typical customer, as we might envision one. He is excited by the prospect of hunting a...

In "A Sound of Thunder", Eckels is going on a time safari - he is paying a hunting company to send him and a group of guides to the distant past, using a time machine, so that he can hunt animals that are extinct in the modern period.

At the beginning of the story Eckels seems like a fairly typical customer, as we might envision one. He is excited by the prospect of hunting a dinosaur, although a little impatient and demanding, but again we might expect this of a person paying a large amount of money for the experience. It might also be implied that Eckels doesn't like being told "no", and that the numerous restrictions and conditions placed on his expedition somewhat diminish his impression of the quality of the experience he is paying for.

At the end of the story, Eckels seems like a decidedly cowardly, apologetic buffoon, being unable to grasp or accept the changes he has caused in the timeline or their permanence. He seems overcome with grief and cannot behave with either the stoicism and measure displayed by the safari leaders, but neither is he completely oblivious - he is simply a stand-in for the average person who might display far more regret and care after a mistake has been made. In his apologetics, he seems to have completely forgotten, or ignored, all of the explanations that have been provided to him about how time travel works, and it seems foolish to have allowed him to embark on the trip in the first place.