All Summer in a Day Summary by Ray Douglas Bradbury
The story ‘All Summer in a Day’ is a science fiction. It is set on the planet Venus. In the story, the real and fantastic details have been combined. Ray Bradbury wrote this story in March 1954 in a science fiction magazine. In his fictitious description of the planet Venus, the writer tells us that Venus is a planet where it rains constantly except for one hour after every seven years, when the sun appears. The idea of incessant rain on a planet for seven years is a fantastical element, which is not possible on earth and may not be the case with planet Venus either.
As the story has been set in a different planet, there is constant reference to scientists and their predictions regarding sun. The characters in the story are on Venus to set up civilization and live out their lives. It is only margot who had come on Venus five years ago from Earth. Rest others had been on Veuns all their lives. The story does not tell us the reason for their immigration from Earth to Venus despite the incessant rain. In the story, the writer wants to convey that the power of the sun over the children living on Venus is notable. They are pale and colourless. The lack of the sun has washed away their compassion and consideration and empathy for other people. They do not regard this until the sun reappears.
All Summer in a Day Summary Introduction
The story begins with the school children who lived on the planet Venus with their families, had assembled in a group around a window of their classroom. All they were nine years old and they were eagerly waiting a momentous occasion. After seven years of constant rain, the scientists on Venus had predicted that the sun would appear that day for a brief period of time. The children had only seen the sun once in their lives, but they were two years old. They were too small to remember how it looked and how it made them feel.
To prepare for the day, all the children except Margot had constantly read about the sun and completed classroom activities. They had also written a poem about the sun. All the children showed great interest in doing their task. Margot did not seem to be least interested in such task. She thought this task to be very uninteresting. The children accused Margot of not having written her poignant poem comparing the sun to a flower on her own. Margot 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. She stood, separate, staring at the rain and the loud wet world beyond the huge glass.
The children resented her for various reasons. She lived in Ohio until she was five. She still had many memories of the sun and the sun continued to fascinate her. She firmly refused to participate in any classroom activity that did not include the sun. She remained in a dejected state for most of her time on Venus. A rumour was circulated among the children that her parents had been planning to take her away from the underground colony on Venus and back to her home on Earth, though it meant the loss of thousands of dollars to her family.
The children hated her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness and her possible future. When Margot was looking out of the window and was waiting silently for the rain to stop and the sun to come, the other children became upset with her and began to push and taunt her. They told her that the scientists were wrong in their predictions of when the sun would appear. Then, suddenly, the children thought of a trick to play on Margot.
They wanted to hide Margot in a closet before the teacher came. A boy named William seized her roughly asked the other children to follow him. The other children also rushed at her. Margot protested, pleaded and cried, but they were too stern for her to show any mercy. They locked her a far away closet. Then, after locking her in the closet, they, for sometime, stood looking at the door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself against it. They heard her muffled cries. Then smiling, they turned and went out and back down to the tunnel.
Just then the teacher arrived there. She glanced at her watch and asked the children to form a group at one place for the approaching event. The children followed her instruction and came into a group. A kind of silence pervaded the atmosphere as the rain stopped. The silence was so immense and unbelievable that the children felt as if their ears had been stuffed or they had lost their hearing altogether. The children put their hands to their ears. They stood apart.
The door slid back and the smell of the silent waiting world came in to them. The sun came out. It was the colour of flaming bronze and it was very large. And the sky around it was blazing blue tile colour and the jungle burnt with sunlight. The children rushed out, yelling into the springtime. While the children were running to enjoy the sunshine, the teacher warned them saying that they had only two hours and they should not go too far. But it seemed as if the children did not pay any heed to their teacher’s warning and kept on running in great enthusiasm. They turned their faces up to the sky and felt the sun on their cheeks like a warm iron. Then, they took off their jackets and let the sun burn their arms.
The children stood in the great jungle that covered Venus. They lay out, laughing, on the jungle mattress and heard it sigh and squeak under them resilient and alive. They ran among the trees, they slipped and fell, they pushed each other, they played hide-and-seek and tag, but most of all they squinted at the sun until the tears ran down their faces.
They put their hands up to that yellowness and that amazing blueness and they breathed of the fresh air and listened to the silence which suspended them in a blessed sea of no sound and no motion. They looked at everything and savoured everything. Then, wildly, like animals escaped from their caves, they ran and ran in shouting circles.
They had been running for an hour and did not stop running. While playing in the sunshine and enjoying the sunlight, they forgot their teacher’s warning about the time limit. Suddenly one of the girls cried out because she was cradling a big, fat rain drop in her hand. Everyone stopped. They stood for a moment, thinking about how wonderful the sun felt on their skins. While they did this the rain clouds moved in. The sun retreated; the rain fell harder. All of the Children stopped for a moment before re-entering the tunnels, reflecting on how wonderful the past hour was.
As they re-entered the hall way, they, with their heavy hearts asked their teacher if they would have to wait for seven more years. The teacher replied in positive. Once again, another student gave a muffled cry. The girl remembered that Margot was still in the closet. Margot was still in the closet where they locked her. On hearing about Margot, all the chidlren were stunned. Margot had been there for the entire time when they were outside and enjoying the sunshine.
They looked at each other and then looked away. They looked out at the world where it had been raining steadily. As they were greatly ashamed at their deed. They could not meet each other’s glances. All their fun had now gone. They were in serious mood. They were full of sorrow. With their faces down, they slowly moved to the closet door in the sound of the cold rain. After reaching to the closet door, they stood by it. No noises were emitted from behind the closet door. Then, they unlocked the door and Margot slowly appeared to them with the same calmness and gloominess as they had often seen.
All Summer in a Day Summary Stanzawise Word-Meanings
Weeds = an obnoxious growth. Intermixed = mixed together. Peering = looking searchingly at something. Gush = a sudden outward flow of a large amount of liquid. Concussion = a stunning, damaging or shattering effect from a hard blow. Tidal = of or relating to tides; rising and falling at regular times. Stunned = surprised. Recall = remember. Trembling = shaking. Blooms = grows or develops fully. Slackening = becoming slower. Frail = very weak. Washed out = caused to fade. Shove = a strong forceful push. Blinking = closing and then opening eyes very quickly. Barely = scarcely, hardly.
Patterning = the designs or patterns that appear on something. Dollar = a basic unit of money in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and other countries that is equal to hundred cents. Consequence = something that happens as a result of a particular action or set of conditions. Whispered = spoke very softly or quietly. Predict = to say that something will or might happen in the future. Seized = attacked. Roughly = in a way that is not gentle or careful. Closet = a usually small room that is used for storing things. Slammed = closed in a forceful way. Muffled = suppressed. Avalanche = a large mass of snow, ice, earth, rock, or other material in swift motion down a mountain side.
Tornado = a violent destructive whirling wind accompanied by a funnel-shaped cloud that progresses in a narrow path over the land ; a violent windstorm. Hurricane = a tropical cyclone with winds occurring especially in the Western Atlantic, that is usually accompanied by rain, thunder and lightning. Standstill = a state in which all activity or motion is stopped. Volcanic = of, relating to, or produced by a volcano. Blasts = a mass of water, gas, heat, etc., that moves very quickly and forcefully through the air. Repercussion = widespread, indirect or unforeseen effect of an act, action or event. Ripped = tom, split. Flaming bronze = referring to the colour of the sun.
Yelling = making loud cry. Spell = a strong compelling influence. Springtime = flourishing stage of development. Tumultuous = involving a lot of violence, confusion or disorder. Octopi = a sea animal that has a soft body and eight long arms. Clustering = coming together to form a group. Wavering = moving back and forth in an unsteady way. Hide-and-seek = a children’s game in which everyone hides from one player who tries to find. Tag = a game in which the player chases others and tries to touch one of them who then becomes it. Squinted = looked at something with eyes partly closed. Savoured = enjoyed the taste or smell of (something) for as long as possible. Tumbled = fell down suddenly and quickly. Gigantic = exceeding the usual or expected. Solemn = very serious or formal in manner, behaviour or expression.
All Summer in a Day Summary About the Writer
Ray Bradbury was an American science fiction writer who rejected being categorized as a science fiction writer, claiming that his work was based on the fantastical and unreal. He was born on August 22,1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. He was the third son in the family. His father, Leonard Spaulding Bradbury, was a telephone lineman and technician.
His mother, Esther Marie Bradbury was a Swedish immigrant. His grandfather and great-gradfather were newspaper publishers. In 1934 his family settled in Los Angeles, California. There young Bradbury often roller-skated through Hollywood, trying to spot celebrities. He attended Los Angeles High School, where he was involved in the drama club and planned to become an actor. He graduated from high school in 1938 and had no formal education. Instead, he learned from reading works of such writers as Leo Tolstoy and Fydor Dostoevsky, among others.
From 1838-42, he was selling newspapers on the streets of Los Angeles, spending days in the local library and nights at the typewriter. At that time he published his stories in fanzines. In 1941 he became a paid writer when the pulp magazine Science stories published his short story, titled ‘Pendulum’, and he was a full-time writer by the end of 1942. His first book—’Dark Carnival’—was a collection of stories published in 1947. That same year he married Marguerite McClure (1922-2003), whom he met at a book store a year earlier. Maggie, as she was affectionately called, was the only woman Bradbury ever dated. They had four daughters and eventually, eight grandchildren.
Ray Bradbury shot to international fame after publication of ‘The Martian Chronicles’ (1950), a collection of short stories partially based on ideas from ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Then he followed the anti-Utopian writers Yevgeni Zamyatin and Aldous Huxley in his best known work, ‘Farenheit 451’ (1953). His total literary output is close to six hundred short stories, more than thirty books and numerous poems and plays. He had been writing daily.
In 2004 Bradbury received a National Medal of Arts. He also received the world Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award from Science fiction writers of America, an Emmy Award for his work as a writer on ‘The Hallowween Tree’, and many other awards and honours. Ray Bradbury died on June 6, 2012, at the age of 91, in Los Angeles, California.
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