I think this book has a special connection to this generation because right now there is a focus on bullying. I see stories on the news about kids committing suicide because they were being bullied. The eradication of bullying is even on teen and children networks with celebrities telling us that bullying is wrong. I think the surface meaning of the story would be to treat other the way you want to be treated and that bullying is wrong.
I also noticed that Bradbury used rain in an ironic way. In the story it’s spring time since it’s summer for two hours later on. From Foster’s book, I learned that the common presumption with rain during spring time is that it should bring new life and that the world should be green. The expectation of colorful plants also comes with spring. The opposite happens on Venus. The narrator says that Venus “was the color of stones and white cheeses and ink, and it was the color of the moon” (3). According to the description, Venus looks dead even though it is covered in jungles. The years of rain have actually made Venus look like a waste land. Another irony is that Venus, named after the goddess of beauty, is actually quite ugly in Bradbury’s story.
The imagery of a dead world caused by rain also makes me think Bradbury is alluding to something biblical. I mean he writes a story where its rains for seven years, a significant biblical number. Since it has rained for so long I think it’s alright to assume that there must be some sort of flooding going on on the surface of the planet. Is this planet being punished?
A third thing I noticed is that Margot looks sick. She is described as “ 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” (2). Her drained appearance leads me to believe that there might be a vampire in this story.
Ray Bradbury’s “All Summer in A Day” sounded familiar the first time I read it and I believe it was because part of it may have been used in a passed literary exam. Anyway, this time I’m sure I understood it more than the last; this time it was not out of context and I knew more of what to look for.
When I began trying to make connections in the text, I noticed several elements that Foster addressed in his book. One example would be the obvious weather component: rain. “…rain and rain and rain…” (Bradbury pg.1) is all that the students have known for seven years, except for Margot. What I gathered from Foster is that rain, apart from contributing to isolation and forcing people together (which is what happens in the short story), it is also a misery factor thus setting giving the reader a better idea of the great misery that Margot is in. As for the hour lone summer celebration, it made sense that summer time would be a time to “rejoice” (Foster pg .179). I also decided it would be appropriate to call William a vampire. The boy sees Margot as a weak and fragile girl that can be easily taken down. William gets the entire class to bully her and is unconcerned with Margot’s feelings or necessities as human being.
Though I found many details and uncovered what they meant, I wanted to try and see if I could go further; I wanted to try and go as far as Foster did in chapter 27 of his book: “A Test Case”. After reading “All Summer in a Day” the image of a person knowing about something that no one else believed was true brought me to Fosters point in “Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too” Chapter 14. By the chapter title one can probably see where I headed with the short story but I hope my observation isn’t too far out there.
Though Foster doesn’t, if I remember correctly, bring up the sun as being symbolic of God, for Bradbury’s short story, I felt it made sense. Margot had come to Venus from Earth, which once you think about it would be from the sky, from a different world, a place where she could see the Sun. I saw Margot as the girl that believe in the Sun (or God) and that no one else, none of her classmates anyway, believed her. “You won’t see nothing… It was all a joke wasn’t it?” claimed William. Then later, Margot was “surged”, “caught”, and “bore” (pg 3). She was then locked up in a dark closet, far away from being able to see the sun. I took this as clear persecution, which could resemble the crucifixion of Christ. After the students had ran out and played in the sun light, they came back to and realized what they had done. “Their faces were solemn and pale… their faces down” (pg 4). By their body language I sensed that the Margot’s peers were guilty they had realized that she was right about the Sun all along.
There are many inconsistencies between the story of Christ and that of Margot but the order of events in “All Summer in a Day” were convincing enough for me. In addition there were some other biblical connections, one being the coming of the sun every seven years, which would be similar to the seven days of creation.
As for Bradbury’s main idea or point in writing this story, I’m not exactly sure. Mostly I believe the main idea is isolation and the act of isolating others. Margot was clearly different in the story, she even recognized that; because of her abnormal past (coming from earth) she was set apart from the rest and felt lonely. No one wanted to believe her, perhaps because they were simply jealous of what she knew. Even after five years, Margot was discriminated by others because of her qualities and that is a long time to be feeling like an outsider for a nine year old.
Hopefully my connections are not too risky, but feel free to say why I may be wrong.
The prevalent component of this story that stands out very quickly is rain, which is also specifically addressed in Foster’s book. One of the meanings of rain that Foster mentions is “the big eraser” such as in the Biblical story of Noah, where the rain and flood brings not only destruction, but also a new start. There are also other instances in the Bible where rain is mentioned to be a giver of life, but there are also instances where people fear the heavy rain and suffer from it. This is reflected in “All Summer in a Day” in the imagery of the planet itself, where Venus is covered in a great jungle like a “nest of octopi, clustering up great arms” (p.3), thus making the planet seemed filled with life and even seemingly like a living thing itself. However, it is also described as having the color of stones and the moon, making the planet seem cold and dead. Interestingly, the fresh air that comes with the absence of rain and the coming of the sun is also described as a body of water, a “blessed sea of no sound and no motion” (p.3), which also makes me think of another irony in the wording that Bradbury uses in describing the planet as being the color of ash, when the “fire” (the sun), another representation of life and death in this story, hasn’t come in years. The rain also washes away the color and the life in Margot’s complexion, leaving her to look like “an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away” (p.2). The planet is not described as flooded (oddly enough, considering how endlessly tumultuous the rain is described to be in this story), but I believe that the children are figuratively drowning. I feel as though the children are being suffocated by the waters and are suppressed by the ceaseless rain, and thus, they are unable to think more freely and are trapped in the thought of their own rainy world, rather than being able to accept the concept of the sun that Margot describes to them. In this story, the rain brings both life and death to Venus, bringing growth but also suppression.
This suppression of new thought ties in with this story’s overarching concept of conformity. I believe that this fits with Foster’s concept of a “political writing” addressing social issues. This story speaks to society’s inability to accept what is out of the norm or radically new ideas. People tend to gravitate towards what is already established, as familiar ideas are more comfortable to live with. It is easier to conform to norms and familiarities, and therefore, those who act outside of the norm are prone to rejection and being ostracized, much like Margot’s situation. Margot is different from all of the other children in her class in that she has actually witnessed the warmth of the sun and remembers what it is like. However, when she speaks of the sun and describes it to them, she is promptly rejected without much consideration. Since Foster mentions that political writing engages with the period, I thought back to the historical context of 1950’s America, which was the time which this piece of written during. Conformity played a major role in the post-WWII era with a rise in consumerism, mass-production, and general uniformity. Amidst the consumerism boom during the time, people often vied for conformity using material possessions, along with keeping up with established social norms amidst intolerance to difference. Therefore, I believe the overarching message of this story points to the concept of conformity, heightened by the context of the time period during which Bradbury wrote “All Summer in a Day.”
I agree with everything Luis and Flor said. It is very ironic that rain usually symbolizes restoration, new beginning, a cleansing yet Bradbury writes “A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and frown up a thousand times to be crushed again” (Page 1). It seems the rain is restorative at first, allowing the forest to grow only to destroy it once again.
I also would agree that William is the vampire as he gains power at the expense of not only Margot but also the other kids. William initiates the bullying that drains Margot as well as silences other potential students from standing up for Margot. Each of the other students has a heart seen at the end when they gather enough courage to let Margot out of the closet. The main character not mentioned in this scene is the vampire, William. They have the potential power to disagree with William but as William instills peer pressure, sucking their confidence and voice, William comes out as the dictator.
In addition to Flor’s arguments concerning Margot being a Christ figure, Margot is also portrayed in agony throughout the story, alone (as Christ spent much of his time alone), tempted by the Sun and Earth, and in company of thieves. Her peers stole her hope, her happiness, and dream of seeing the sun.
Flor – I thought your analysis of Margot as a Christ figure was particularly interesting. I thought it was interesting that you also addressed the number seven as used both in this short story and also in the context of the Bible. It made me think of seven in terms of Sabbath, the seventh day, also associated with the resurrection of Jesus. I thought that perhaps the two hours of sun coming after seven years of absence might represent a sort of resurrection of the sun. Ironically, this is also the time which Margot is locked in a closer in the darkness, rather than coming out from her enclosure, contrasting with the story of the resurrection of Jesus. I definitely can see Margot as a possible Christ figure, possibly in some ironic ways as well.
Bradbury did a tremendous job setting his tones in the story using weather. In Chapter 10 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow”, Foster emphasizes our associations with weather and emotions. Rain can paint a picture of coldness, misery, wetness that makes everything dirty. In the opening and closing of Bradbury’s “All Summer in a Day”, the “thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain…”(1) sets a tone of depression, misery, despair. The “tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests…” (1) drops the reader into a never-ending miserable place where no matter where you go, where you look, or what you do, you hear rain. The tone of the story shifts when the sun comes out. The sun is warm, happiness, and light. The children spend their two hours of sunlight laughing and running and playing. It is a joyous time and the children finally feel alive; they are strengthened by the sun. Even the jungle mattress of Venus was alive. “The children lay out, laughing, on the jungle mattress, and heard it sigh and squeak under them resilient and alive” (3). We associate sunshine with playing outdoors, having a picnic, relaxing in a pool. It is a much lighter and happier feeling as opposed to the dreadful rain. By including weather, an author allows his readers to paint their own picture and imagine the emotions the characters feel without explicitly describing every detail in a scene.
When I first read this story, it felt familiar to me. I had read it before in the seventh grade, so I knew where the story would go, but I didn’t realize it would feel so familiar to me. I overlooked it, perhaps it was because I had read the story before. But when I started to analyze the details in the text, I realized why the story had felt so familiar. It was about the life and Crucifixion of Christ and moreover, the Jews who had persecuted Christ.
I also found that Bradbury had used rain in many ironic ways. When Bradbury first sets the setting, he explains that the planet is hostile, “…storms so heavy they were tidal waves…A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again.” (Bradbury, pg. 1) And for the most part, people reflect the environment they live in, as Foster also explains, “…geography can be a character…if they can’t overcome the larger geography, they can at least express their rage against the smaller.” (pg. 168-169) Bradbury’s setting reflects the nature of the children: hostile, and they take it out on Margot.
The rain also seems to be the nature of sin. A sinful man is hostile against everyone, mostly against the godly. Which brings the next point: Margot is a Christ-figure; and she hates showering as it reminds her of rain, “…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.” (Bradbury, pg. 2)
Ironically, the rain also appears to be the word of God. These children lived seven years underground hearing the rain fall over their heads. And when they were told that the sun would come up one day, they were skeptical. It’s like the Israelites. They lived by the commands given to them from Moses, but they grumbled and doubted God.
Therefore the sun is symbolic of God and Margot, Christ. Margot came from Earth, a place where sunlight is abundant, and then she came to Venus. Christ came from heaven onto Earth and would again go up to heaven.
And the children hated “her possible future.” (Bradbury, pg.2)
The children are also vampires, specifically William. They pick on her to feel strength, “…someone grows in strength by weakening someone else.” (Foster, pg. 21) And as they feed on her, she becomes washed out, “She was an old photograph dusted from an album,” (Bradbury, pg. 2)
Many things about Margot support the realization that she is a Christ-figure. Margot allowed herself to be pushed around, “He gave her a shove. But she did not move; rather she let herself be moved only by him and nothing else. ” (Bradbury, pg. 2) Likewise, Christ allowed the Jews to crucify him. And furthermore, she wasn’t accepted among the children as Christ wasn’t accepted as their Messiah. Margot seems to truly come alive when it was about the sun, “Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows.” (Bradbury, pg. 2) Margot lights up at the sun, excuse the pun, as the sun is her salvation; her exit out of a dark and dreary world. And she is pushed into a dark closet and released in more or less three hours; likewise, Christ dies and rose again on the 3rd day.
Finally, when the sun comes and goes, the children change. It’s as if they are baptized in the sun. They finally see and feel the sun. But when the rain comes again, they change. They finally become alive in the sunlight, but it’s taken away from them. They die with the receding sunlight, but when those raindrops hit them, they’re reborn; they’re cleansed. They are remorseful about what they did to Margot and accept her, because they can understand her pain.
After reading Ray Bradybury’s, “All Summer in a Day,” I used Thomas C. Foster’s techniques to analyze Bradbury’s story. The chapter, “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow,” came to mind as Foster had described a cleansing factor that rain brings to literary work’s characters. “So if you want a character to be cleansed, symbolically, let him walk through the rain to get somewhere,” (Foster 77). Margot is the character that I feel was cleansed by the rain. Having come from Earth, her joyous life is washed away by the rain that constantly falls leaving her “She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost” (Bradbury 2). The sun’s reappearance on Venus after seven years of hiding was supposed to revitalize Margot and allow her to become herself. But her fellow classmates decided to lock her in a closet after they thought she was strange girl who didn’t understand nor remember the sun. After the other children had experienced the sun, they realized why Margot was so desperate to have it back and feel it’s warmth and energy.
@Eunji- I really enjoy your analysis and comparison of the story being about the Crucifixion of Christ. I also found that Margot could be considered a Christ-figure who brought upon some ideals and beliefs to her fellow people but it required her sacrifice of not seeing the sun for the children to follow her. I never thought about cleansing being a re-birth or baptizing as you stated which is a great point.
I agree with both Flor and Eungi on Margot being a possible Christ figure. The story itself had biblical allusions with the rain bringing destruction (it destroys the jungles) and the repletion of the number seven. I can see how Margot could be considered a Christ figure because she is persecuted close to the end of the book. Plus she is left in confined, dark space which could be like when Jesus is put in a cave for three days. The Christ figure idea is also made stronger by what Eungi pointed out; Margot would be going back to Earth eventually. Earth would represent Heaven in this instance. One thing that stuck out to me was, “He gave her a shove. But she did not move; rather she let herself be moved only by him and nothing else” (Bradbury, pg. 2). This implies that she did not move for William but that she lets someone else mover her, a mysterious “him”. This “him” might be God.
Well, I obviously jumped into this pool a little late, but I feel as if I have a perspective that is worthy of some exploration. In terms of the symbolism of the sun, I immediately thought of the recent movie Rapunzel, which starts with a baby being on the verge of death only to be saved by a plant that was very resemblant to the sun. Margot reminds me of that character; as she is without the sun, she becomes drained, becoming frail and colorless. At first I saw this as being washed away of impurity, but immediately saw that it wasn’t a stereotypical representation of rain as a purifying agent. This rain washed the joy away from Margot, as she wasn’t able to feel and see the thing that had become a part of her life on Earth. Please, expand on this, I want to see if anyone else had similar feelings.
#Chelsea, I also thought of Noah, but in a slightly different way. I saw the giant and ceaseless storm similar to God’s cleansing of the Earth, washing away the sin from the Earth, leaving behind Noah and purity. But the way that I saw the break in the storm, figuratively, was God “poking his head in”, so to speak, seeing if any sin had remained. I felt as if the time of sun in the story flew by; although there were two hours without storm, in the actual piece it was a mere fraction of everything, and in this time God saw Margot trapped in the closet and saw that sin was still present and went back to cleansing the planet.
The rain seems to be the most important focus of the story based on using Foster to analyse the story because it is mentioned over and over again and seems to be what allows the characters to be who they are. Going off of what Orlando said about Margot being “cleansed” by the rain, Bradbury made Margot be the outcast of the group because she was “cleansed” of the life she knew before moving the Venus. Nobody else remembers what the sun is like, so they cannot sympathize with her feelings of missing the sun. Rain is used for the effect of almost “dirtying” Margot in the eyes of her peers, but it also forcing the children together while creating a situation in which Margot cannot be herself.
Foster points out that the rain is “democratic” and “falls on the just and the unjust alike.” I found this interesting because the rain does not do that in the story. If Margot is seen as a “just” figure in the story, her peers can be seen as “unjust” for locking her in a closest and not allowing her to experience the sun or the rain that follows.
“How to read literature like a proffeser” by thomas c. Foster, has really opened my eyes to the complexities of literature. Well, after taking ap comp it more expanded my knowledge of the complexities of literature, but non the less I learned a great deal. When I began reading “All summer in a Day” it immediately felt fimiliar, and I realized it was not because all literature is derived from other literature but because I have read it before. Some past class had me read it and I can’t remember what for but I’m sure I didn’t get as much from as I did now after reading Foster’s book. Every little detail means so much more than it did before.
Starting with the tile, “All Summer in a Day”, chapter 20 of fosters book is about the meaning of the seasons. Summer, he sumizes, is,” … [ is to do] with adulthood and romance and fulfillment and passion…”(Foster178) and this is to all happen ” in a day”. So I immediately thought it was going to be a passion filled summer romance but after ready the story I realized it was more fulfillment of finally seeing the sun and margrets passion for the sun. It happening in on day made summer, what seems to go by in a flash, actually go by in a flash. Making the fleeting joy of summer even more fleeting. “it had been raining for seven years…”(page1) Havin summer last a day and the rest of the time filled with nothing but rain exaggerated the symbolic meaning of the seasons and this was made possible by the geography. Chapters 19 and 20, geography matters … So does season.
“… Thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain.”(page 1) The end less rain is representative of Noah’s flood. She. The flood happened on the people on the ark where saved and the rest parished
Flor- I do not think that your connections are too risky. Margot does seem to be a Christ figure in the story. She is persecuted by her peers and is unable to experience the sun that they all were waiting for even if she was the only one who truly missed the sun.
Eunji- I agree with the idea that Earth can be a representation of Heaven in the story. It is so different from Venus that stories must have been told about the abundance of sunshine and warmth, so it becomes almost mythical and Margot’s peers become jealous of the fact she might, one day, return to that place.
Cameron- I think your point about God seeing the sin that was still present because of Margot being trapped in the closet is a very interesting take on the idea of rain being a force that cleanses the planet. It seems like Bradbury is suggesting that there is so much sin on the planet that it can never be, truly, washed away.
I had difficulty understanding fully the rain element in the piece because it played a larger part in the story than I normally find. I like what you gathered from it and it clarifies the story for me as well. I think the idea of the students and the other people living on Venus being emotionally drowned out by the rain makes sense and I also think its interesting that Bradbury is able to incorporate that into the story.
in reply to your comment on my comment..
Yes, there were some ironic situations that didn’t fit too well with a Christ figure which is why I was unsure about my Observations but, yes perhaps Bradbury meant to make certain parts opposite and ironic in order to emphasize the similarities. At least that is was ended up happening to me.
“How to Read Literature like a Professer”, by Thomas C. Foster, has really opened my eyes to the complexities of literature. Well, after taking AP comp. it more expanded my knowledge of the complexities of literature, but non the less I learned a great deal. When I began reading “All summer in a Day”, it immediately felt familiar, and I realized it was not because all literature is derived from other literature, as I thought, but because I have read it before. Some past class had me read it and I can’t remember what for but I’m sure I didn’t get as much from as I did now after reading Foster’s book. Every little detail means so much more than it did before.
Starting with the tile, “All Summer in a Day”, chapter 20 of Foster’s book is about the meaning of the seasons. Summer, he sumizes, is,” … [ is to do] with adulthood and romance and fulfillment and passion…”(Foster178) and this is to all happen ” in a day”. So I immediately thought it was going to be a passion filled summer romance but after re-reading the story I realized it was more fulfillment of finally seeing the sun and margrets passion for the sun. It happening in one day made summer, what seems to go by in a flash, actually go by in a flash. Making the fleeting joy of summer even more fleeting. “…it had been raining for seven years…”(page1) Having summer last a day and the rest of the time filled with nothing but rain exaggerated the symbolic meaning of the seasons and this was made possible by the geography. Chapters 19 and 20, geography matters … So does season.
“… Thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain.”(page 1) The end less rain is representative of Noah’s flood.
When Noah’s flood accured, the people on the ark where the only ones saved and the rest parished because they angered god. The children in margrets class hated her because, “…the biggest crime of all was that she…remembered the sun…”(page 2). They where mean to her and locked her in the closet for no reason other then she was different. When the sun finally comes out she is locked in the closet while they are fulfilled by experiencing the sun. Her being locked in the closet is like Jesus dying on the cross for the people’s sins and when they let her out after the sun leaves, it is Jesus being reserected 3 days later. Chapter 14, ” Yep, She’s a Christ figure, Too”.
The last chapter of fosters book, about irony, can also be applied to ” All Summer in a Day”. Examples of irony are everywhere through out the story. One example is when the sun is about to come out and all sound stops like in a movie before a natural disaster. (page 3) It’s the calm before the storm but it’s the exact opposite. The calm before the sunshine. More irony is present in color of the forest. Instead of a lush green forest from all the rain ,”… it was the color of the moon.”(page 3) and the most outstanding example is the rain. Instead of it being cleansing and a symbol of rebirth, it is a cause of misery and destruction as it causes the forests to, ” … grow up a thousand times to be crushed again.”(page 1) Irony is powerful and used correctly can say a lot.
” All Summer in a Day”, has gained a lot more meaning now that I have the knowledge from fosters book. Almost, if not, every chapter can be applied to it to extracted more meaning from the text. ” All Summer in a Day”, and all literature has a lot of meaning hidden in its words. Thanks to Foster’s book it was easier this time around to extract some more meaning and made the reading a lot more interesting.
I have read this story before and I like it every time I read it, but this time as with many things, i got something different out of the the second time around. The first time i read this story, I just got the very basic and obvious parts of the story. The sun is never out, it rains for seven years, and- as the title implies- summer is only one day there, in fact it is less that one day, it is only two hours. However, my second time around reading this story, having AP Lang and How to Read Like a Professor under my belt, i was able to understand more of the story and interpret things different than before. The whole raining for seven years issue, i feel alludes to the Bible, what with the flooding and the world being dead during the time of the flood. When the sun comes out, the flood is over and the world is no longer dead; it is suddenly teeming with life for a mere two hours, while the inhabitants try to soak up the rays of sunshine.
Another thing, i found interesting also ties into the whole “dead world” kind of theme. Why are they on Venus? Is it post-apocalyptic and the Earth is no longer fit for human life? or has society just advanced enough to the point where inhabiting other planets is not only a possibility, but the norm? Maybe it is both. This really intrigues me.
@Luis– Like you, I found the bullying component is very important and stood out a lot to me. The children never got close to Margot because she was different, but i also think there were jealous of the fact that she actually remembered having seen the sun. They locked her in the closet and consequently, caused her to miss the two hours of sunshine. The guilt the children felt made me think about our society today and how we react to bullies. Bullying is a very tender subject these days.I found it interesting that the ending to the story was abrupt. It just ends with Margot being let out. No consequences, no repercussions. It is clear though how horrible all of the children feel after locking her up. They realizes that they were being bullies, which is something that usually doesn’t present itself on its own. They realized that their being mean went too far. That I think is the point. Joking around and messing with people can be fun but it can also go too far. The focus, like Luis said, is about bullying and not taking part in it.
The very first thing I noticed about this short story after reading it was that the kids who locked Margot in the closet was that they were the classic vampiric characters. They were delighted not only in the summer sun, and the lack of rain, but they were even happier knowing they were causing Margot pain. Even the fact that children who terrorize each other are called “little monsters” is an implicit point aiming at the vampirism located at the base of this story.
The second thing I noticed was the rain, which instead of showing rebirth into something beautiful, signified the opposite, the transformation of human into monster. The only girl who retains the majority of her humanity is Margot, who just recently arrived on Venus. As these kids have slowly been deprived of the sunlight due to the rain, they have been twisted and slowly turned to angry little kids. The bathing of sunlight, however, has the effect of a temporary baptism on the kids, and their remorse shows their small transformation. Instead of being delighted in her missing the only thing Margot cared about, they were shamed. It can only be assumed that the constant patter of rain will slowly perform an unholy baptism on the children over the next seven years, until they are renewed by the next lapse in the rain.
Sorry about the double post, I didnt realize I hadn’t included this in my previous comment. I wasn’t sure what to think of the fact that, instead of lasting for 2 hours as expected, the sunlight only lasted half that time. I was hoping someone could enlighten me on how this might be literarily interpreted using How to read Literature.
@Cameron
I just read your comment, and I agree with you on all but one of the parts. Instead of the flower with a drop of sun in it being the equivalent of the sun in All Summer in a Day, I believe the torches are the equivalent. That drop of sun is what inevitably kept her as a prisoner. She was kept from the torches in the same way Margot is kept from the sunlight. The closet and the kids are what I see as the equivalent of the sun drop flower.
I too have read this story, though it was a long time ago. My first encounter with the book remained shallow and rather plain, as I didn’t quite understand the underlying meaning coming from the story. I saw it as a sad tale of a girl who never saw the sun. Reading this short story a second time has allowed for me to use my resources in figuring out what is really being said here. Rather than talking about the outside world and the resemblance of Venus to that of a dead world, I want to talk about the Margot. The story portrays her as a dark, seclusive being that wants no part in being with the others, suggesting that she has been bullied many times before. The aggressors in the story, or the rest of the class, are selfish people who let jelousy get the best of them. This story not only tells the tale of a dead world brought to light for two hours, but of how some people in our lives are not as lucky or fortunate as others, and that those others who are less fortunate shouldn’t seek vengeance in jelousy. Margot doesn’t seem to feel an sympathy. I interpretted her mutterings to the other children as mocks of sort. Rather than trying to udnerstand where these children were coming from, she seemed haughty and even pitiful, but lacked any sympathy at all really. I guess I was simply trying to view some other part of the story that everybody else didn’t mention, but it was hard not to inflect my own tone in that of the conversations between the characters. I saw this as a two-pronged conflict rather than a sad story of a girl locked in a closet or of a world without “light”.
@hannah
I saw a rather flip side of the rain’s effects on the characters. The rain seemed to “dirty” Margot’s peers rather than dirty Margot herself. She seemed to be seperating herself from the rest of the class because the rain, somewhat like a wall. I do however believe the sun acted as a cleanser that made the children happy for two hours of their lives. Rain did seem to portray an evil in the children that the sun cleansed while out.
Luis – I found you analysis on Venus very interesting. One thing that stood out in the back of my mind was that, since Venus is a terrestrial planet prone to volcanic eruptions, how could it be raining on that planet. I do realize the story’s science fiction, but there must be a reason why Bradbury used Venus instead of another planet. Maybe he had used Venus as it is referred to Earth’s sister, and maybe because Venus once had oceans.
I also found it ironic that Venus, being the Roman god of love, was described as this dark and gloomy planet. But then I realized that when the sun came out those few hours, the jungle breathed with springtime. Maybe it was that short time when the planet was truly beautiful and lovely.
In All Summer In a Day, by Ray Bradbury, I found two distinct allusions. One of which was to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, and the other was to the story of Noah’s Ark. The Allegory of the Cave is story about a group of people whose only life experience is limited to being chained to a wall on the inside of a cave watching shadows cast onto the wall in front of them. The shadows are the only things these people see, and in large part, the only “real” thing they see. However, when one person is able to venture out of the cave he has the chance to see what is outside the cave. He sees what the outside world is like, and when he goes back into the cave to free those still in the cave, none wish to leave the only world they know and the enlightened one is shunned (maybe also referring her to being a Christ figure). Margot, to me, is the character in Plato’s cave that has escaped and seen the world as it can be, but the people who don’t believe her shun her, and because of this she ends up being trapped back in the “cave” or the cabinet in this case. The other allusion I found is to the story of Noah’s ark. The rain that traps the children indoors resembles the flood that god caused to cleanse the earth. The story even mentions the cyclic nature of destruction and rebirth caused by the rain “A thousand forests had been crashed under the rain and grown up a thousand times…” The people cling to the indoors as those on the ark would have in order to escape the elements until the sun returns to warm and dry the planet which allows for rejoice and celebration.
The idea that the rain and the lack of sun has deprived the children of their humanity really interested me. I think it makes Margot seem even more of an “enlightened one” or Christ figure because she has seen the sun herself and only recently has begun to be tormented by the persistent rain of Venus. During the story sure longs to be released from the jail that the rain causes and begins to lose faith and doubt her dreams of seeing the sun.
So, like my many classmates, I too have read this story before. The first time I read it was sixth grade and I just was shocked by how this innocent girl had to miss the sun due to the horrific manners of the other children, yet this time around I was able to connect to some deeper meanings, or connections that I had not been able to recognize when I was younger. I thought this short story was to give the example that bullying is bad, end of story. Now that I can analyze it a little better, I see that the author was writing all these details of bullying in a specific way. Rain will usually symbolize rebirth; a storm leads to fresh grass, and everything new during the spring. Yet the author has it rain and rain for years at a time, with there’s one little girl who’s voice isn’t loud enough to be heard by her peers. She is an outcast and put in the closet to punish her for her desperation of the sun. It almost seems to me the rain is the same as the bullies (other children), they’re around to be the sadness, and for a while in the story the sadness goes away and the sun comes out. Margot is completely forgotten, as if she never existed in the story, and once the rain comes back, the regret comes stronger. So instead of the rain meaning something good and brings good things, it just brought more sadness.
@Eunji, I can see why Margot seems as Christ and the sun is God. This seems to be a connection that maybe the whole story is about God, Christ, and the Bible. Raining with the flood. God and hope. Christ and belief. And I’m surprised that this story just took that route. It again proves How to Read Literature.. is shown true, that it’s either Shakespeare or the Bible.
August 9th, 2012 at 10:43 pm
I think this book has a special connection to this generation because right now there is a focus on bullying. I see stories on the news about kids committing suicide because they were being bullied. The eradication of bullying is even on teen and children networks with celebrities telling us that bullying is wrong. I think the surface meaning of the story would be to treat other the way you want to be treated and that bullying is wrong.
I also noticed that Bradbury used rain in an ironic way. In the story it’s spring time since it’s summer for two hours later on. From Foster’s book, I learned that the common presumption with rain during spring time is that it should bring new life and that the world should be green. The expectation of colorful plants also comes with spring. The opposite happens on Venus. The narrator says that Venus “was the color of stones and white cheeses and ink, and it was the color of the moon” (3). According to the description, Venus looks dead even though it is covered in jungles. The years of rain have actually made Venus look like a waste land. Another irony is that Venus, named after the goddess of beauty, is actually quite ugly in Bradbury’s story.
The imagery of a dead world caused by rain also makes me think Bradbury is alluding to something biblical. I mean he writes a story where its rains for seven years, a significant biblical number. Since it has rained for so long I think it’s alright to assume that there must be some sort of flooding going on on the surface of the planet. Is this planet being punished?
A third thing I noticed is that Margot looks sick. She is described as “ 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” (2). Her drained appearance leads me to believe that there might be a vampire in this story.
August 9th, 2012 at 11:27 pm
Ray Bradbury’s “All Summer in A Day” sounded familiar the first time I read it and I believe it was because part of it may have been used in a passed literary exam. Anyway, this time I’m sure I understood it more than the last; this time it was not out of context and I knew more of what to look for.
When I began trying to make connections in the text, I noticed several elements that Foster addressed in his book. One example would be the obvious weather component: rain. “…rain and rain and rain…” (Bradbury pg.1) is all that the students have known for seven years, except for Margot. What I gathered from Foster is that rain, apart from contributing to isolation and forcing people together (which is what happens in the short story), it is also a misery factor thus setting giving the reader a better idea of the great misery that Margot is in. As for the hour lone summer celebration, it made sense that summer time would be a time to “rejoice” (Foster pg .179). I also decided it would be appropriate to call William a vampire. The boy sees Margot as a weak and fragile girl that can be easily taken down. William gets the entire class to bully her and is unconcerned with Margot’s feelings or necessities as human being.
Though I found many details and uncovered what they meant, I wanted to try and see if I could go further; I wanted to try and go as far as Foster did in chapter 27 of his book: “A Test Case”. After reading “All Summer in a Day” the image of a person knowing about something that no one else believed was true brought me to Fosters point in “Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too” Chapter 14. By the chapter title one can probably see where I headed with the short story but I hope my observation isn’t too far out there.
Though Foster doesn’t, if I remember correctly, bring up the sun as being symbolic of God, for Bradbury’s short story, I felt it made sense. Margot had come to Venus from Earth, which once you think about it would be from the sky, from a different world, a place where she could see the Sun. I saw Margot as the girl that believe in the Sun (or God) and that no one else, none of her classmates anyway, believed her. “You won’t see nothing… It was all a joke wasn’t it?” claimed William. Then later, Margot was “surged”, “caught”, and “bore” (pg 3). She was then locked up in a dark closet, far away from being able to see the sun. I took this as clear persecution, which could resemble the crucifixion of Christ. After the students had ran out and played in the sun light, they came back to and realized what they had done. “Their faces were solemn and pale… their faces down” (pg 4). By their body language I sensed that the Margot’s peers were guilty they had realized that she was right about the Sun all along.
There are many inconsistencies between the story of Christ and that of Margot but the order of events in “All Summer in a Day” were convincing enough for me. In addition there were some other biblical connections, one being the coming of the sun every seven years, which would be similar to the seven days of creation.
As for Bradbury’s main idea or point in writing this story, I’m not exactly sure. Mostly I believe the main idea is isolation and the act of isolating others. Margot was clearly different in the story, she even recognized that; because of her abnormal past (coming from earth) she was set apart from the rest and felt lonely. No one wanted to believe her, perhaps because they were simply jealous of what she knew. Even after five years, Margot was discriminated by others because of her qualities and that is a long time to be feeling like an outsider for a nine year old.
Hopefully my connections are not too risky, but feel free to say why I may be wrong.
August 10th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
The prevalent component of this story that stands out very quickly is rain, which is also specifically addressed in Foster’s book. One of the meanings of rain that Foster mentions is “the big eraser” such as in the Biblical story of Noah, where the rain and flood brings not only destruction, but also a new start. There are also other instances in the Bible where rain is mentioned to be a giver of life, but there are also instances where people fear the heavy rain and suffer from it. This is reflected in “All Summer in a Day” in the imagery of the planet itself, where Venus is covered in a great jungle like a “nest of octopi, clustering up great arms” (p.3), thus making the planet seemed filled with life and even seemingly like a living thing itself. However, it is also described as having the color of stones and the moon, making the planet seem cold and dead. Interestingly, the fresh air that comes with the absence of rain and the coming of the sun is also described as a body of water, a “blessed sea of no sound and no motion” (p.3), which also makes me think of another irony in the wording that Bradbury uses in describing the planet as being the color of ash, when the “fire” (the sun), another representation of life and death in this story, hasn’t come in years. The rain also washes away the color and the life in Margot’s complexion, leaving her to look like “an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away” (p.2). The planet is not described as flooded (oddly enough, considering how endlessly tumultuous the rain is described to be in this story), but I believe that the children are figuratively drowning. I feel as though the children are being suffocated by the waters and are suppressed by the ceaseless rain, and thus, they are unable to think more freely and are trapped in the thought of their own rainy world, rather than being able to accept the concept of the sun that Margot describes to them. In this story, the rain brings both life and death to Venus, bringing growth but also suppression.
This suppression of new thought ties in with this story’s overarching concept of conformity. I believe that this fits with Foster’s concept of a “political writing” addressing social issues. This story speaks to society’s inability to accept what is out of the norm or radically new ideas. People tend to gravitate towards what is already established, as familiar ideas are more comfortable to live with. It is easier to conform to norms and familiarities, and therefore, those who act outside of the norm are prone to rejection and being ostracized, much like Margot’s situation. Margot is different from all of the other children in her class in that she has actually witnessed the warmth of the sun and remembers what it is like. However, when she speaks of the sun and describes it to them, she is promptly rejected without much consideration. Since Foster mentions that political writing engages with the period, I thought back to the historical context of 1950’s America, which was the time which this piece of written during. Conformity played a major role in the post-WWII era with a rise in consumerism, mass-production, and general uniformity. Amidst the consumerism boom during the time, people often vied for conformity using material possessions, along with keeping up with established social norms amidst intolerance to difference. Therefore, I believe the overarching message of this story points to the concept of conformity, heightened by the context of the time period during which Bradbury wrote “All Summer in a Day.”
August 10th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
I agree with everything Luis and Flor said. It is very ironic that rain usually symbolizes restoration, new beginning, a cleansing yet Bradbury writes “A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and frown up a thousand times to be crushed again” (Page 1). It seems the rain is restorative at first, allowing the forest to grow only to destroy it once again.
I also would agree that William is the vampire as he gains power at the expense of not only Margot but also the other kids. William initiates the bullying that drains Margot as well as silences other potential students from standing up for Margot. Each of the other students has a heart seen at the end when they gather enough courage to let Margot out of the closet. The main character not mentioned in this scene is the vampire, William. They have the potential power to disagree with William but as William instills peer pressure, sucking their confidence and voice, William comes out as the dictator.
In addition to Flor’s arguments concerning Margot being a Christ figure, Margot is also portrayed in agony throughout the story, alone (as Christ spent much of his time alone), tempted by the Sun and Earth, and in company of thieves. Her peers stole her hope, her happiness, and dream of seeing the sun.
August 10th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Flor – I thought your analysis of Margot as a Christ figure was particularly interesting. I thought it was interesting that you also addressed the number seven as used both in this short story and also in the context of the Bible. It made me think of seven in terms of Sabbath, the seventh day, also associated with the resurrection of Jesus. I thought that perhaps the two hours of sun coming after seven years of absence might represent a sort of resurrection of the sun. Ironically, this is also the time which Margot is locked in a closer in the darkness, rather than coming out from her enclosure, contrasting with the story of the resurrection of Jesus. I definitely can see Margot as a possible Christ figure, possibly in some ironic ways as well.
August 10th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
*closet, not closer
August 10th, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Bradbury did a tremendous job setting his tones in the story using weather. In Chapter 10 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow”, Foster emphasizes our associations with weather and emotions. Rain can paint a picture of coldness, misery, wetness that makes everything dirty. In the opening and closing of Bradbury’s “All Summer in a Day”, the “thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain…”(1) sets a tone of depression, misery, despair. The “tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests…” (1) drops the reader into a never-ending miserable place where no matter where you go, where you look, or what you do, you hear rain. The tone of the story shifts when the sun comes out. The sun is warm, happiness, and light. The children spend their two hours of sunlight laughing and running and playing. It is a joyous time and the children finally feel alive; they are strengthened by the sun. Even the jungle mattress of Venus was alive. “The children lay out, laughing, on the jungle mattress, and heard it sigh and squeak under them resilient and alive” (3). We associate sunshine with playing outdoors, having a picnic, relaxing in a pool. It is a much lighter and happier feeling as opposed to the dreadful rain. By including weather, an author allows his readers to paint their own picture and imagine the emotions the characters feel without explicitly describing every detail in a scene.
August 10th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
When I first read this story, it felt familiar to me. I had read it before in the seventh grade, so I knew where the story would go, but I didn’t realize it would feel so familiar to me. I overlooked it, perhaps it was because I had read the story before. But when I started to analyze the details in the text, I realized why the story had felt so familiar. It was about the life and Crucifixion of Christ and moreover, the Jews who had persecuted Christ.
I also found that Bradbury had used rain in many ironic ways. When Bradbury first sets the setting, he explains that the planet is hostile, “…storms so heavy they were tidal waves…A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again.” (Bradbury, pg. 1) And for the most part, people reflect the environment they live in, as Foster also explains, “…geography can be a character…if they can’t overcome the larger geography, they can at least express their rage against the smaller.” (pg. 168-169) Bradbury’s setting reflects the nature of the children: hostile, and they take it out on Margot.
The rain also seems to be the nature of sin. A sinful man is hostile against everyone, mostly against the godly. Which brings the next point: Margot is a Christ-figure; and she hates showering as it reminds her of rain, “…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.” (Bradbury, pg. 2)
Ironically, the rain also appears to be the word of God. These children lived seven years underground hearing the rain fall over their heads. And when they were told that the sun would come up one day, they were skeptical. It’s like the Israelites. They lived by the commands given to them from Moses, but they grumbled and doubted God.
Therefore the sun is symbolic of God and Margot, Christ. Margot came from Earth, a place where sunlight is abundant, and then she came to Venus. Christ came from heaven onto Earth and would again go up to heaven.
And the children hated “her possible future.” (Bradbury, pg.2)
The children are also vampires, specifically William. They pick on her to feel strength, “…someone grows in strength by weakening someone else.” (Foster, pg. 21) And as they feed on her, she becomes washed out, “She was an old photograph dusted from an album,” (Bradbury, pg. 2)
Many things about Margot support the realization that she is a Christ-figure. Margot allowed herself to be pushed around, “He gave her a shove. But she did not move; rather she let herself be moved only by him and nothing else. ” (Bradbury, pg. 2) Likewise, Christ allowed the Jews to crucify him. And furthermore, she wasn’t accepted among the children as Christ wasn’t accepted as their Messiah. Margot seems to truly come alive when it was about the sun, “Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows.” (Bradbury, pg. 2) Margot lights up at the sun, excuse the pun, as the sun is her salvation; her exit out of a dark and dreary world. And she is pushed into a dark closet and released in more or less three hours; likewise, Christ dies and rose again on the 3rd day.
Finally, when the sun comes and goes, the children change. It’s as if they are baptized in the sun. They finally see and feel the sun. But when the rain comes again, they change. They finally become alive in the sunlight, but it’s taken away from them. They die with the receding sunlight, but when those raindrops hit them, they’re reborn; they’re cleansed. They are remorseful about what they did to Margot and accept her, because they can understand her pain.
August 10th, 2012 at 6:25 pm
After reading Ray Bradybury’s, “All Summer in a Day,” I used Thomas C. Foster’s techniques to analyze Bradbury’s story. The chapter, “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow,” came to mind as Foster had described a cleansing factor that rain brings to literary work’s characters. “So if you want a character to be cleansed, symbolically, let him walk through the rain to get somewhere,” (Foster 77). Margot is the character that I feel was cleansed by the rain. Having come from Earth, her joyous life is washed away by the rain that constantly falls leaving her “She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost” (Bradbury 2). The sun’s reappearance on Venus after seven years of hiding was supposed to revitalize Margot and allow her to become herself. But her fellow classmates decided to lock her in a closet after they thought she was strange girl who didn’t understand nor remember the sun. After the other children had experienced the sun, they realized why Margot was so desperate to have it back and feel it’s warmth and energy.
@Eunji- I really enjoy your analysis and comparison of the story being about the Crucifixion of Christ. I also found that Margot could be considered a Christ-figure who brought upon some ideals and beliefs to her fellow people but it required her sacrifice of not seeing the sun for the children to follow her. I never thought about cleansing being a re-birth or baptizing as you stated which is a great point.
August 10th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
I agree with both Flor and Eungi on Margot being a possible Christ figure. The story itself had biblical allusions with the rain bringing destruction (it destroys the jungles) and the repletion of the number seven. I can see how Margot could be considered a Christ figure because she is persecuted close to the end of the book. Plus she is left in confined, dark space which could be like when Jesus is put in a cave for three days. The Christ figure idea is also made stronger by what Eungi pointed out; Margot would be going back to Earth eventually. Earth would represent Heaven in this instance. One thing that stuck out to me was, “He gave her a shove. But she did not move; rather she let herself be moved only by him and nothing else” (Bradbury, pg. 2). This implies that she did not move for William but that she lets someone else mover her, a mysterious “him”. This “him” might be God.
August 10th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Well, I obviously jumped into this pool a little late, but I feel as if I have a perspective that is worthy of some exploration. In terms of the symbolism of the sun, I immediately thought of the recent movie Rapunzel, which starts with a baby being on the verge of death only to be saved by a plant that was very resemblant to the sun. Margot reminds me of that character; as she is without the sun, she becomes drained, becoming frail and colorless. At first I saw this as being washed away of impurity, but immediately saw that it wasn’t a stereotypical representation of rain as a purifying agent. This rain washed the joy away from Margot, as she wasn’t able to feel and see the thing that had become a part of her life on Earth. Please, expand on this, I want to see if anyone else had similar feelings.
August 10th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
#Chelsea, I also thought of Noah, but in a slightly different way. I saw the giant and ceaseless storm similar to God’s cleansing of the Earth, washing away the sin from the Earth, leaving behind Noah and purity. But the way that I saw the break in the storm, figuratively, was God “poking his head in”, so to speak, seeing if any sin had remained. I felt as if the time of sun in the story flew by; although there were two hours without storm, in the actual piece it was a mere fraction of everything, and in this time God saw Margot trapped in the closet and saw that sin was still present and went back to cleansing the planet.
August 10th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
The rain seems to be the most important focus of the story based on using Foster to analyse the story because it is mentioned over and over again and seems to be what allows the characters to be who they are. Going off of what Orlando said about Margot being “cleansed” by the rain, Bradbury made Margot be the outcast of the group because she was “cleansed” of the life she knew before moving the Venus. Nobody else remembers what the sun is like, so they cannot sympathize with her feelings of missing the sun. Rain is used for the effect of almost “dirtying” Margot in the eyes of her peers, but it also forcing the children together while creating a situation in which Margot cannot be herself.
Foster points out that the rain is “democratic” and “falls on the just and the unjust alike.” I found this interesting because the rain does not do that in the story. If Margot is seen as a “just” figure in the story, her peers can be seen as “unjust” for locking her in a closest and not allowing her to experience the sun or the rain that follows.
August 10th, 2012 at 10:21 pm
“How to read literature like a proffeser” by thomas c. Foster, has really opened my eyes to the complexities of literature. Well, after taking ap comp it more expanded my knowledge of the complexities of literature, but non the less I learned a great deal. When I began reading “All summer in a Day” it immediately felt fimiliar, and I realized it was not because all literature is derived from other literature but because I have read it before. Some past class had me read it and I can’t remember what for but I’m sure I didn’t get as much from as I did now after reading Foster’s book. Every little detail means so much more than it did before.
Starting with the tile, “All Summer in a Day”, chapter 20 of fosters book is about the meaning of the seasons. Summer, he sumizes, is,” … [ is to do] with adulthood and romance and fulfillment and passion…”(Foster178) and this is to all happen ” in a day”. So I immediately thought it was going to be a passion filled summer romance but after ready the story I realized it was more fulfillment of finally seeing the sun and margrets passion for the sun. It happening in on day made summer, what seems to go by in a flash, actually go by in a flash. Making the fleeting joy of summer even more fleeting. “it had been raining for seven years…”(page1) Havin summer last a day and the rest of the time filled with nothing but rain exaggerated the symbolic meaning of the seasons and this was made possible by the geography. Chapters 19 and 20, geography matters … So does season.
“… Thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain.”(page 1) The end less rain is representative of Noah’s flood. She. The flood happened on the people on the ark where saved and the rest parished
August 10th, 2012 at 10:28 pm
Flor- I do not think that your connections are too risky. Margot does seem to be a Christ figure in the story. She is persecuted by her peers and is unable to experience the sun that they all were waiting for even if she was the only one who truly missed the sun.
Eunji- I agree with the idea that Earth can be a representation of Heaven in the story. It is so different from Venus that stories must have been told about the abundance of sunshine and warmth, so it becomes almost mythical and Margot’s peers become jealous of the fact she might, one day, return to that place.
Cameron- I think your point about God seeing the sin that was still present because of Margot being trapped in the closet is a very interesting take on the idea of rain being a force that cleanses the planet. It seems like Bradbury is suggesting that there is so much sin on the planet that it can never be, truly, washed away.
August 10th, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Please disregarded my last post, I accidentally hit submit before I was finished.
August 10th, 2012 at 11:04 pm
@Chelsea
I had difficulty understanding fully the rain element in the piece because it played a larger part in the story than I normally find. I like what you gathered from it and it clarifies the story for me as well. I think the idea of the students and the other people living on Venus being emotionally drowned out by the rain makes sense and I also think its interesting that Bradbury is able to incorporate that into the story.
in reply to your comment on my comment..
Yes, there were some ironic situations that didn’t fit too well with a Christ figure which is why I was unsure about my Observations but, yes perhaps Bradbury meant to make certain parts opposite and ironic in order to emphasize the similarities. At least that is was ended up happening to me.
August 10th, 2012 at 11:22 pm
“How to Read Literature like a Professer”, by Thomas C. Foster, has really opened my eyes to the complexities of literature. Well, after taking AP comp. it more expanded my knowledge of the complexities of literature, but non the less I learned a great deal. When I began reading “All summer in a Day”, it immediately felt familiar, and I realized it was not because all literature is derived from other literature, as I thought, but because I have read it before. Some past class had me read it and I can’t remember what for but I’m sure I didn’t get as much from as I did now after reading Foster’s book. Every little detail means so much more than it did before.
Starting with the tile, “All Summer in a Day”, chapter 20 of Foster’s book is about the meaning of the seasons. Summer, he sumizes, is,” … [ is to do] with adulthood and romance and fulfillment and passion…”(Foster178) and this is to all happen ” in a day”. So I immediately thought it was going to be a passion filled summer romance but after re-reading the story I realized it was more fulfillment of finally seeing the sun and margrets passion for the sun. It happening in one day made summer, what seems to go by in a flash, actually go by in a flash. Making the fleeting joy of summer even more fleeting. “…it had been raining for seven years…”(page1) Having summer last a day and the rest of the time filled with nothing but rain exaggerated the symbolic meaning of the seasons and this was made possible by the geography. Chapters 19 and 20, geography matters … So does season.
“… Thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain.”(page 1) The end less rain is representative of Noah’s flood.
When Noah’s flood accured, the people on the ark where the only ones saved and the rest parished because they angered god. The children in margrets class hated her because, “…the biggest crime of all was that she…remembered the sun…”(page 2). They where mean to her and locked her in the closet for no reason other then she was different. When the sun finally comes out she is locked in the closet while they are fulfilled by experiencing the sun. Her being locked in the closet is like Jesus dying on the cross for the people’s sins and when they let her out after the sun leaves, it is Jesus being reserected 3 days later. Chapter 14, ” Yep, She’s a Christ figure, Too”.
The last chapter of fosters book, about irony, can also be applied to ” All Summer in a Day”. Examples of irony are everywhere through out the story. One example is when the sun is about to come out and all sound stops like in a movie before a natural disaster. (page 3) It’s the calm before the storm but it’s the exact opposite. The calm before the sunshine. More irony is present in color of the forest. Instead of a lush green forest from all the rain ,”… it was the color of the moon.”(page 3) and the most outstanding example is the rain. Instead of it being cleansing and a symbol of rebirth, it is a cause of misery and destruction as it causes the forests to, ” … grow up a thousand times to be crushed again.”(page 1) Irony is powerful and used correctly can say a lot.
” All Summer in a Day”, has gained a lot more meaning now that I have the knowledge from fosters book. Almost, if not, every chapter can be applied to it to extracted more meaning from the text. ” All Summer in a Day”, and all literature has a lot of meaning hidden in its words. Thanks to Foster’s book it was easier this time around to extract some more meaning and made the reading a lot more interesting.
August 10th, 2012 at 11:51 pm
I have read this story before and I like it every time I read it, but this time as with many things, i got something different out of the the second time around. The first time i read this story, I just got the very basic and obvious parts of the story. The sun is never out, it rains for seven years, and- as the title implies- summer is only one day there, in fact it is less that one day, it is only two hours. However, my second time around reading this story, having AP Lang and How to Read Like a Professor under my belt, i was able to understand more of the story and interpret things different than before. The whole raining for seven years issue, i feel alludes to the Bible, what with the flooding and the world being dead during the time of the flood. When the sun comes out, the flood is over and the world is no longer dead; it is suddenly teeming with life for a mere two hours, while the inhabitants try to soak up the rays of sunshine.
Another thing, i found interesting also ties into the whole “dead world” kind of theme. Why are they on Venus? Is it post-apocalyptic and the Earth is no longer fit for human life? or has society just advanced enough to the point where inhabiting other planets is not only a possibility, but the norm? Maybe it is both. This really intrigues me.
@Luis– Like you, I found the bullying component is very important and stood out a lot to me. The children never got close to Margot because she was different, but i also think there were jealous of the fact that she actually remembered having seen the sun. They locked her in the closet and consequently, caused her to miss the two hours of sunshine. The guilt the children felt made me think about our society today and how we react to bullies. Bullying is a very tender subject these days.I found it interesting that the ending to the story was abrupt. It just ends with Margot being let out. No consequences, no repercussions. It is clear though how horrible all of the children feel after locking her up. They realizes that they were being bullies, which is something that usually doesn’t present itself on its own. They realized that their being mean went too far. That I think is the point. Joking around and messing with people can be fun but it can also go too far. The focus, like Luis said, is about bullying and not taking part in it.
August 10th, 2012 at 11:58 pm
The very first thing I noticed about this short story after reading it was that the kids who locked Margot in the closet was that they were the classic vampiric characters. They were delighted not only in the summer sun, and the lack of rain, but they were even happier knowing they were causing Margot pain. Even the fact that children who terrorize each other are called “little monsters” is an implicit point aiming at the vampirism located at the base of this story.
The second thing I noticed was the rain, which instead of showing rebirth into something beautiful, signified the opposite, the transformation of human into monster. The only girl who retains the majority of her humanity is Margot, who just recently arrived on Venus. As these kids have slowly been deprived of the sunlight due to the rain, they have been twisted and slowly turned to angry little kids. The bathing of sunlight, however, has the effect of a temporary baptism on the kids, and their remorse shows their small transformation. Instead of being delighted in her missing the only thing Margot cared about, they were shamed. It can only be assumed that the constant patter of rain will slowly perform an unholy baptism on the children over the next seven years, until they are renewed by the next lapse in the rain.
–
Braden Scarborough
August 11th, 2012 at 12:04 am
Sorry about the double post, I didnt realize I hadn’t included this in my previous comment. I wasn’t sure what to think of the fact that, instead of lasting for 2 hours as expected, the sunlight only lasted half that time. I was hoping someone could enlighten me on how this might be literarily interpreted using How to read Literature.
–
Braden Scarborough
August 11th, 2012 at 12:16 am
@Cameron
I just read your comment, and I agree with you on all but one of the parts. Instead of the flower with a drop of sun in it being the equivalent of the sun in All Summer in a Day, I believe the torches are the equivalent. That drop of sun is what inevitably kept her as a prisoner. She was kept from the torches in the same way Margot is kept from the sunlight. The closet and the kids are what I see as the equivalent of the sun drop flower.
–
Braden Scarborough
August 11th, 2012 at 1:04 am
I too have read this story, though it was a long time ago. My first encounter with the book remained shallow and rather plain, as I didn’t quite understand the underlying meaning coming from the story. I saw it as a sad tale of a girl who never saw the sun. Reading this short story a second time has allowed for me to use my resources in figuring out what is really being said here. Rather than talking about the outside world and the resemblance of Venus to that of a dead world, I want to talk about the Margot. The story portrays her as a dark, seclusive being that wants no part in being with the others, suggesting that she has been bullied many times before. The aggressors in the story, or the rest of the class, are selfish people who let jelousy get the best of them. This story not only tells the tale of a dead world brought to light for two hours, but of how some people in our lives are not as lucky or fortunate as others, and that those others who are less fortunate shouldn’t seek vengeance in jelousy. Margot doesn’t seem to feel an sympathy. I interpretted her mutterings to the other children as mocks of sort. Rather than trying to udnerstand where these children were coming from, she seemed haughty and even pitiful, but lacked any sympathy at all really. I guess I was simply trying to view some other part of the story that everybody else didn’t mention, but it was hard not to inflect my own tone in that of the conversations between the characters. I saw this as a two-pronged conflict rather than a sad story of a girl locked in a closet or of a world without “light”.
@hannah
I saw a rather flip side of the rain’s effects on the characters. The rain seemed to “dirty” Margot’s peers rather than dirty Margot herself. She seemed to be seperating herself from the rest of the class because the rain, somewhat like a wall. I do however believe the sun acted as a cleanser that made the children happy for two hours of their lives. Rain did seem to portray an evil in the children that the sun cleansed while out.
August 11th, 2012 at 7:12 pm
You are all rockin’ this. Looking forward to a great school year of discussion and discovery.
August 13th, 2012 at 4:24 pm
Luis – I found you analysis on Venus very interesting. One thing that stood out in the back of my mind was that, since Venus is a terrestrial planet prone to volcanic eruptions, how could it be raining on that planet. I do realize the story’s science fiction, but there must be a reason why Bradbury used Venus instead of another planet. Maybe he had used Venus as it is referred to Earth’s sister, and maybe because Venus once had oceans.
I also found it ironic that Venus, being the Roman god of love, was described as this dark and gloomy planet. But then I realized that when the sun came out those few hours, the jungle breathed with springtime. Maybe it was that short time when the planet was truly beautiful and lovely.
August 15th, 2012 at 9:14 pm
In All Summer In a Day, by Ray Bradbury, I found two distinct allusions. One of which was to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, and the other was to the story of Noah’s Ark. The Allegory of the Cave is story about a group of people whose only life experience is limited to being chained to a wall on the inside of a cave watching shadows cast onto the wall in front of them. The shadows are the only things these people see, and in large part, the only “real” thing they see. However, when one person is able to venture out of the cave he has the chance to see what is outside the cave. He sees what the outside world is like, and when he goes back into the cave to free those still in the cave, none wish to leave the only world they know and the enlightened one is shunned (maybe also referring her to being a Christ figure). Margot, to me, is the character in Plato’s cave that has escaped and seen the world as it can be, but the people who don’t believe her shun her, and because of this she ends up being trapped back in the “cave” or the cabinet in this case. The other allusion I found is to the story of Noah’s ark. The rain that traps the children indoors resembles the flood that god caused to cleanse the earth. The story even mentions the cyclic nature of destruction and rebirth caused by the rain “A thousand forests had been crashed under the rain and grown up a thousand times…” The people cling to the indoors as those on the ark would have in order to escape the elements until the sun returns to warm and dry the planet which allows for rejoice and celebration.
August 15th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
@Braden
The idea that the rain and the lack of sun has deprived the children of their humanity really interested me. I think it makes Margot seem even more of an “enlightened one” or Christ figure because she has seen the sun herself and only recently has begun to be tormented by the persistent rain of Venus. During the story sure longs to be released from the jail that the rain causes and begins to lose faith and doubt her dreams of seeing the sun.
August 17th, 2012 at 9:42 pm
So, like my many classmates, I too have read this story before. The first time I read it was sixth grade and I just was shocked by how this innocent girl had to miss the sun due to the horrific manners of the other children, yet this time around I was able to connect to some deeper meanings, or connections that I had not been able to recognize when I was younger. I thought this short story was to give the example that bullying is bad, end of story. Now that I can analyze it a little better, I see that the author was writing all these details of bullying in a specific way. Rain will usually symbolize rebirth; a storm leads to fresh grass, and everything new during the spring. Yet the author has it rain and rain for years at a time, with there’s one little girl who’s voice isn’t loud enough to be heard by her peers. She is an outcast and put in the closet to punish her for her desperation of the sun. It almost seems to me the rain is the same as the bullies (other children), they’re around to be the sadness, and for a while in the story the sadness goes away and the sun comes out. Margot is completely forgotten, as if she never existed in the story, and once the rain comes back, the regret comes stronger. So instead of the rain meaning something good and brings good things, it just brought more sadness.
@Eunji, I can see why Margot seems as Christ and the sun is God. This seems to be a connection that maybe the whole story is about God, Christ, and the Bible. Raining with the flood. God and hope. Christ and belief. And I’m surprised that this story just took that route. It again proves How to Read Literature.. is shown true, that it’s either Shakespeare or the Bible.