All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury

All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury

1.  Bradbury uses several metaphors and similes to create vivid images in this story. Locate six of these metaphors and similes. In the left column, copy the simile or metaphor as it appears in the story (copy the format of the example). In the right column, explain the comparison being made. Be detailed and look beyond the literal.

Ex: “It’s like a fire, in the stove.” Line 69 (simile) / Margot is comparing the sun to a fire inside a stove.
1. “The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun.” Line 14 (Simile) / The children were tightly bunching together in a group to get a look at the sun so the author compares them as a group, to weeds that grow closely together.
2. “with the sweet crystal fall of showers” Line 18 (Metaphor) / The author is using this to describe rain, comparing it to crystals.
3. “But then they always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests, and their dreams were gone.” Line 31 (Metaphor) / A tatting drum and shaking of clear bead necklaces are sounds which the author uses to describe the noise of the rain.
4. “They turned on themselves, like a feverish wheel, all tumbling spokes.” Line 47 (Simile) / The author compares the students turning on each other like an uncontrolled, restless wheel.
5. “She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair.” Line 48 (Simile) / The author is trying to say that she looked like her once happy soul had now withered away because of being stuck in the rain for so long.
6. “She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost. “ Line 50 (Metaphor) / This line is further describing her withered soul and adding that she was quiet and was like an old photograph whitened away, that time had taken its toll.

2. Refer to page 20 of the Super Sexy Secrets and use the information to help you create a plot graph of the story. Use the space below to create a graph, label it, and then insert the information from the story.

1.  Introduction/Exposition:
Margot, William, the other students, their teacher are in a school on Venus on a day where the students are waiting to see the sun for the first time in 7 years.

2.  Initial Incident:
William starts talking to Margot in a deaming way, like a bully, and shoves her, then she begins to recall her memory of the sun.
3. Rising Action/Complication:
All the other students bully Margot, saying she’s lying about all the things she said about the sun. One of the boys claims that the sun was in fact, not actually going to show up at all that day but Margot still defended that she believed it would. They continue to bully her, saying she won’t even see anything anyways, so they lock her in a closet.
4. Climax:
The sun actually does come out and all of the kids go out and enjoy it, seeing for themselves that Margot was right.
5. Falling Action:
The sun fades away and they all go inside, finally aware of just how majestic the sun is.
6. Conclusion/Denouement/Resolution:
They remember Margot and let her out of the closet, realizing what they had just done.

3. Direct characterization (the author tells us directly what this character is like) and indirect characterization (the author shows us what the character is like through the character’s actions, thoughts, and words) are both used in the story. Find an example of each for the character Margot.

Direct characterization:
She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.
Indirect Characterization: But she did not move; rather she let herself be moved only by him and nothing else.
But she remembered and stood quietly apart from all of them and watched the patterning windows. And once, a month ago, she had refused to shower in the school shower rooms, had clutched her hands to her ears and over her head, screaming the water mustn't touch her head.

4. Refer to page 21 of the S.S.S. to help you figure out as many types of conflict as you can in the story. Fill out the chart below.

Type of Conflict / Example from Story (with line number/s)
Person vs. Person / "What're you looking at?" said William.
Margot said nothing. "Speak when you're spoken to." He gave her a shove. (Lines 53-55)
Person vs. Group / They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet, where they slammed and locked the door. They stood looking at the door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself against it. They heard her muffled cries. (Lines 93-95)
Person vs. Nature / And then, of course, the biggest crime of all was that she had come here only five years ago from Earth, and she remembered the sun and the way the sun was and the sky was when she was four in Ohio. (Lines 62-63)

5. What is the main conflict? Person vs. Group / Margot vs. Other students

6. “All Summer in a Day” is an example of dystopian literature. A dystopia (from Ancient Greek: "bad, hard’, and "place, landscape";] alternatively anti-utopia) is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian. Ideas and works about dystopian societies often explore the concept of humans abusing technology and humans individually and collectively coping, or not being able to properly cope with technology that has progressed far more rapidly than humanity's spiritual evolution There are many common traits that dystopic societies contain:

a. Society: most impose severe social restrictions on community members

- social stratification: social class is strictly defined and enforced

- ruthless egalitarian

- repression of the intellectual

b. Social Groups: total absence of social groups other than the “state”

- independent religion is notable because of omittance

- family is attacked: the hostility to motherhood

c. Nature: characters are isolated from the natural world

-conditioned to fear nature

d. Political: Government asserts power over citizens

- flawed in some way—portrayed as oppressive

- filled with pessimistic views of the ruling class—rules with an “iron fist”

e. Economic: state is in control of the economy

- black market—items banned or seen as contraband

- often privatization in businesses

f. The Hero: protagonist questions society—intuition

- is a rebel, or an outsider

g. Conflict: societal group somewhere not under control of state

-the protagonist puts his/her faith in these people, but futilely

h. Climax: can be unresolved

- death or re-education/conformity

-usually the opposite of a “happy ending”

What characteristics of dystopian society are present in this story?

Nature: Margot once experienced sun for most of the year when she lived on earth, but now that she lived on Venus, she had not experienced sun for at least 5 years.
The Hero: Margot is an outsider because she is the only kid in her class the remembers what the sun looks like, so the other students think she’s somewhat out of her mind, thus leaving her separate from the group.
Climax: Margot misses out on the 1 day of sun for the next 7 years, therefore she will not be able to see it again until she is 16, or move back to earth.

7. What kind of world does Margot live in? How does it compare to our world?

It rains every single day. There is only 2 hours of sun on one day every 7 years. In all honesty, it sounds dreadful.

8. In “All Summer in a Day,” Margot is like a captive. She is trapped, living under conditions that are slowly destroying her. What are some conditions here on Earth that are similar to Margot’s? List at least three.

Poverty
Third world countries
Countries with lots of wars

9. A theme in this story has something to do with why people are sometimes cruel to one another. The author says the children hated Margot for:

“all these reasons of big and little consequence. They hated her

pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness and her

possible future….” (lines 77-78)

Tell which of these reasons you think are of “big consequence” and which are of “little consequence.”

She was different.
She remembered the sun.
She didn’t seem to like being around them.
She was from earth and had only come to Venus when she was 4.

10. Do you think that the children as a group would have treated Margot as they did if there had not been many against one? What has your own experience, or your reading, shown you about group behaviour versus individual behaviour? Write a paragraph about this issue.

Yes, I believe that Margot would have been treated differently if the group against her wasn’t so large. Most of the time, in groups, certain individuals feel pressured to go with the majority of the group even if it is something they don’t agree with. They’re peer pressured and do what they think they should, just so they don’t stand out either and become another target. When I was younger, even if I saw something wrong happening, I would keep quiet just so the attention wouldn’t shift over to me. As I grew up though, seeing bad things happening to other people right before my eyes, really upset me and I realized that I couldn’t just watch it happening, and continue to let it happen. So, as I started stepping up in situations, like the one Margot was in, I started noticing that once one person takes a stand, other people begin to feel more confident and join as well. Some people need to feel secure in their actions, so when they see someone else doing what they want, they feel like they’ll be stronger having someone else with them. I really think that people need to be more individual in some of their decisions though, so that they can do what is right.

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