1.
All Summer in a Day Questions and Answers Extract Based
Question 1.
“Ready?”
“Ready”
“Now?”
“Soon.”
“Do the scientists really know? Will it happen today, will it?”
“Look, look; see for yourself.” The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun.
It rained.
(a) Where is the story ‘All Summer in A Day ’ set ? Why did the children living on the planet Venus seem to be happy ?
Answer:
The story ‘All Summer in A Day’ is set on the planet where the sun shines for only one hour once every seven years. The children were happy because they had heard from the scientists that the sun was going to appear for a short period.
(b) Why were the characters sent on the planet Venus ? Who came later on Venus and when ?
Answer:
The characters were sent on the planet Venus to set up civilization and live out their lives. It was Margot who had come on Venus five years ago from Earth.
(c) How has the writer depicted the planet Venus ? How do we come to know that the story belongs to the genre of science fiction ?
Answer:
The writer has depicted the planet Venus, as a place where it rains constantly and the sun emerges once every seven years and that too for one hour. The story falls into the genre of science fiction and we come to know this from the constant reference to scientists and their forecasts regarding the sun.
(d) Why were the children unable to remember about the sun ?
Answer:
All the children were nine years old. It means that the children would have been only two years old the last time when the rain stopped and the sun appeared seven years ago, hence the children were too small to remember how it looked and how it made them feel.
(e) What do the following lines ‘Do the scientists really know ? Will it happen today, will it ?’ Show ?
Answer:
These lines show that the children had doubts about the prediction of the scientists. They could not easily believe that the sun was going to appear after a very long time of seven years. They thought that the scientists could be wrong in making prediction.
(f) The story opens with the question ‘Ready ?’ What were the characters getting ready for ?
Answer:
The characters were getting ready to see the sun which was about appear
on Venus after a very long interval of seven years. The children living on the planet Venus seemed to be very excited to get a glimpse of the sun and feel it.
Question 2.
It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands. A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again. And this was the way life was forever on the planet Venus, and this was the schoolroom of the children of the rocket men and women who had come to a raining world to set up civilization and live out their lives.
(a) What is setting of the story ? Describe the main idea of the story.
Answer:
The setting of the story is in the future on Venus in an elementary school where astronauts have raised their children. The main idea of the story is that life can be tough and it is not always fair.
(b) When did the sun appear last on the planet Venus ? Why could the children not preserve the memories of the sun?
Answer:
When the sun last emerged, all the children were just two years old. As they were very little when the sun shone seven years ago, it was difficult for them to preserve the memories of the sun. Hence they remembered nothing about the sun.
(c) How long had it been raining on the planet Venus ? What was the effect of the rain on the forests.
Answer:
It had been raining on the planet Venus for seven years. Several forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again.
(d) How did most of the children feel about the weather on Venus ?
Answer:
Most of the children had accustomed to the constant rainy weather on Venus. They liked the rain because they could not remember ever seeing the sun. Margot thought they remembered the sun only in their dreams.
(e) What were the children doing as ‘All Summer in a Day’ was going to begin ? What do the details in the passage given below tell you about the writer’s purpose ?
‘It had been raining for seven year; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with the drawn and gush of water.
Answer:
The children were peering out a window. In the passage given above, the writer wishes to create a mood. He wants the reader to be able to imagine the consequence of such event upon the characters within the story.
(f) What is the central conflict of the story ‘All Summer in A Day’ ?
Answer:
The main conflict is between Margot and her classmates on planet Venus. Her classmates resent her because they know that she was on Earth for a longer time, than they were; therefore she can remember the sun’s character better than they can.
Question 3.
“It’s stopping, it’s stopping!”
“Yes, yes!”
Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could ever remember a time when there wasn’t rain and rain and rain. They were all nine years old, and if there had been a day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the stunned world, they could not recall.
(a) What does the story *All Summer in A Day’ introduce?
Answer:
The story introduces a group of children living on Venus which is dominated by rainfall and the absence of the sun. In the story, Venus only receives sunlight for one hour every seven years.
(b) Who are the protagonist and antagonist of the story and why ?
Answer:
The protagonist is Margot because she has a conflict that needs to be solved. William is the antagonist because he caused the conflict.
(c) What was the momentous occasion ? Who were waiting for this occasion ?
Answer:
The momentous occasion was that the sun was going to appear in the sky for a brief period i.e., for one hour after seven years. A group of nine years old children was eagerly waiting for this occasion.
(d) How many times had the children seen the sun ?
Answer:
The children had only seen the sun once in their lives when they were two years old, but now they did not remember how it looked or felt.
(e) Why was Margot standing apart ?
Answer:
Margot was standing apart from other children and showed no interest to mingle and interact with them because the grey atmosphere of the planet Venus left great impact of her.
(f) Why had the other children forgotten about the sun ?
Answer:
The other children had been on Venus all their lives and they had been only two years old when last the sun came out for an hour. So they had forgotten colour and heat of the sun.
Question 4.
Margot stood alone. She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost. Now she stood, separate, staring at the rain and the loud wet world beyond the huge glass.
“What’ re you looking at?” said William.
Margot said nothing.
“Speak when you’re spoken to.”
He gave her a shove. But she did not move; rather she let herself be moved only by him and nothing else. They edged away from her, they would not look at her. She felt them go away. And this was because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels of the underground city. If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow.
(a) Who was Margot ? Why did she have memories of the sun ?
Answer:
Margot was one of the children who lived on the planet Venus. She was different from the other children because she had lived in Ohio until she was five. So she had memories of the sun.
(b) How did the children make preparations for the coming summer ?
Answer:
In preparation for the coming summer, the class had spent the previous day studying the sun and writing about it. They had written small stories or essays or poems about it.
(c) Why was Margot totally misfit on Venus ?
Answer:
Margot had come to the planet Venus just five years ago, from earth. She was totally a misfit on Venus. She could not adapt herself to the conditions on Venus where it had been raining continuously for seven years, without the appearance of the sun.
(d) What continued to fascinate Margot ? Why did she not like to participate in any classroom activity ?
Answer:
Margot had many memories of the sun and the sun continued to fascinate her. She did not like to participate in any classroom activity that did not include the sun because she had been in a depressed state on Venus.
(e) What was the impact of constant rain on Margot’s physical appearance ?
Answer:
The constant rain made its first impact on Margot’s physical appearance. It seemed as if the rains had washed out the red colour from her face, the blue colour of her eye and the golden colour of her hair.
(f) How did Margot look like ? Give two instances of metaphor from the above extract ?
Answer:
Margot looked like a faded, whitened photograph from an old album. She looked pale and sick like a ghost. Margot’s appearance and voice has been described after years of relentless rain and devoid of sunlight as :
Question 5.
When the class sang songs about happiness and life and games her lips barely moved. Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows. And then, of course, the biggest crime of all was that she had come here only five years ago from Earth, and she remembered the sun and the way the sun was and the sky was when she was four in Ohio. And they, they had been on Venus all their lives, and they had been only two years old when last the sun came out and had long since forgotten the colour and heat of it and the way it really was. But Margot remembered.
“It’s like a penny,” she said once, eyes closed.
“No, it’s not!” the children cried.
“It’s like a fire,”she said, “in the stove.”
‘You’re lying, you don’t remember!” cried the children.
(a) What is fantastical element in the story ?
Answer:
The children’s living on Venus is fantastical element, because we do not know much about Venus but we do not believe at this time that it can sustain human life. In this story, not only do people live on Venus, but also it rains all the time there. The idea of raining on a planet for seven years is a fantastical element.
(b) How were Margot’s mental feelings affected by rains ?
Answer:
The rains affected Margot mentally. They gave her lonely feelings. She liked to live in an isolated state. She never mingled with the children. She neither played games with them nor sang songs of happiness.
(c) Why had the children forgotten the colour and heat of the sun ?
Answer:
The children had forgotten the colour and heat of the sun because when
last the sun came out, they were only two years old.
(d) Whose biggest crime is being talked about ? Why is it considered as a crime ?
Answer:
Margot’s biggest crime is being talked about. It was considered as a crime because Margot had come to live on Venus only five years ago from earth and she remembered the sun and the things related to the sun.
(e) How does Margot compare the sun ? Why did the children accuse Margot ?
Answer:
Margot compares the sun’s roundness and ‘flaming bronze’ to a ‘penny’, and its warmth to ‘a fire in the stove’. The children accused her of lying when she told them that the sun is round like a penny and hot like a fire.
(f) When did Margot sing along with the other children ?
Answer:
When the children sang songs about happiness and life and games, her lips barely moved, but when they sang about the sun and summer, she sang along with them.
Question 6.
But she remembered and stood quietly apart from all of them and watched the patterning windows. And once, a month ago, she had refused to shower in the school shower rooms, had clutched her hands to her ears and over her head, screaming the water mustn’t touch her head. So after that, dimly, dimly, she sensed it, she was different and they knew her difference and kept away. There was talk that her father and mother were taking her back to Earth next year; it seemed vital to her that they do so, though it would mean the loss of thousands of dollars to her family. And so, the children hated her for all these reasons of big and little consequence. They hated her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness, and her possible future.
(a) Why did the other children resent Margot ?
Answer:
The other children resented her because she played no games with them in the tunnels of the underground city. If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow.
(b) How old was Margot when she moved to Venus ? How did the other children feel about Margot ?
Answer:
When Margot moved to Venus, she was four years old. The other children hated her because of her pale face, her constant silence, her thinness and because she wanted to go back to Earth next year.
(c) What did Margot remember and why ?
Answer:
Margot remembered the sun because she had spent four years of her life on the Earth. She knew very well how its colour was and how one could feel in its presence and what impacts could be seen in the atmosphere.
(d) What were all the children waiting for as they stood around the window ? What was Margot doing ?
Answer:
As the children stood around the class window, all they were curiously waiting for the sun which was about to appear on the planet Venus for a brief time. Margot was also waiting for the sun patiently as she too was eager to set a glimpse of the sun.
(e) For what does the word ‘vital’ stand ? Why does the writer use the word ‘vital’ here ?
Answer:
The word ‘vital’ stands for being necessary to the existence, continuance or well being of something and of critical importance. The word ‘vital’ has been used to describe the importance of her parents’ sending Margot back to Earth and it means it is necessary to Margot.
(f) What does the ‘shower’ serve to remind Margot ? Why does she rebel against it ?
Answer:
The shower only serves to remind Margot of the endless rain which she thoroughly tired of. She wanted to be dry, not wet. She wanted to bask the sun. She did not want to remain under the tyranny of a constant downpour, so she rebels against the shower. To her, the shower symbolises the constant rain she hates.
Question 7.
“Get away!” The boy gave her another push. “What’re you waiting for?” Then, for the first time, she turned and looked at him. And what she was waiting for was in her eyes.
“Well, don’t wait around here!” cried the boy savagely. “You won’t see anything!”
Her lips moved.
“Nothing!” he cried. “It was all a joke, wasn’t it?” He turned to the other children.
“Nothing’s happening today. Is it?”
They all blinked at him and then, understanding, laughed and shook their heads.
“Nothing, nothing!”
“Oh, but,”Margot whispered, her eyes helpless. “But this is the day, the scientists predict, they say, they know, the sun…”
(a) What is the symbolical significance of the sun for Margot ?
Answer:
For Margot, the sun is a reminder of her happy days on Earth before her family has relocated to Venus. It reminds her of the hope for the future that she and her parents will one day return to Earth.
(b) What did the children claim and how did they treat with her ?
Answer:
Margot knew better than any of the children what the sun was like because her family came to Venus from Ohio only five years ago. But the children claimed that she could not remember the sun and treated the quiet, reserved little girl very cruelly.
(c) Why did, the children resent her ? Why were they angry and jealous of her ?
Answer:
The children resented her for her past experiences on Earth with the sun and they were also angry and jealous of her because she had the opportunity to travel back to Earth regardless of the financial costs.
(d) What does Margot’s initial exclusion from the group show ?
Answer:
Margot’s initial exclusion from the group speaks to the difficulties of integrating immigrants into a community. Margot struggles to fit in everyday of her time on Venus and she does not get along with the other children.
(e) Who gave Margot another push and why ? How did Margot react at the boy’s rude behaviour ?
Answer:
A boy named Willian who seemed to be very cruel to Margot gave her another push. He did this act out of anger and jealousy for Margot. For the first time Margot turned and looked at him.
(f) Why did Margot’s eyes show when she looked at the boy ? Why did the boy say ‘you won’t see anything !’ ?
Answer:
When Margot looked at the boy, it was clearly visible in her eyes that she was eagerly waiting for the sun’s appearance. She also seemed to be very confident and patient while waiting for the sun’s appearance. The boy said that she would not see anything and her waiting for the sun’s appearance would be meaningless for her because the children had already planned to play a trick upon her as they did not want to let her see the glimpse of the sun.
Question 8.
“All a joke!” said the boy, and seized her roughly. “Hey, everyone, let’s put her in a closet before the teacher comes!”
“No, ” said Margot, falling back.
They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet, where they slammed and locked the door. They stood looking at the door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself against it. They heard her muffled cries. Then, smiling, they turned and went out and back down the tunnel, just as the teacher arrived.
(a) What did the boy say to dishearten her ? How did the other children react it ?
Answer:
The boy told her that it was all a joke and the sun was not going to appear that day. The other children also followed the boy. They showed their agreement with the boy and laughed at her.
(b) Why did Margot seem to be confident about the appearance of the sun ?
Answer:
Margot seemed to be confident about the appearance of the sun because she firmly believed in the prediction of the scientists. She knew well that the scientists could not be wrong as they predicted after scientific observation.
(c) What did Margot respond when the children were teasing her ? Why did Margot’s classmates feel jealous of her ?
Answer:
Margot said nothing, but she only whispered. She seemed to be helpless before the children who were very harsh and cruel towards her. Margot’s classmates felt jealous of Margot because she lived on the Earth and had seen the sun for a longer amount of time than her classmates. Morever she remembered what the sun was like.
(d) Who were the partners of William in the crime of locking Margot in the closet and how ?
Answer:
As William was the leader of the children, the children did the same they were asked to do. He convinced them to lock Margot in the closet. The children became partners in crime with William and forcibly locked Margot in the closet and thus prevented her from seeing and feeling the sun.
(e) How did Margot resist the children when they were taking her to lock in the closet ?
Answer:
When Margot was being taken to the closet by the children, she protested, pleaded and cried, but it was all in vain as they had crushed the humanity and morality under their feet and had grown stem and cruel against her.
(f) How did all the children react after locking Margot in the closet ?
Answer:
After locking Margot in the closet, all the children stood looking at the door and saw it trumble from her beating and throwing herself against it. They heard the muffled cries of Margot. Then they smiled at their inhuman act and turned and went out.
Question 9.
“Ready, children1?” She glanced at her watch.
“Yes!” said everyone.
“Are we all here?” “Yes!”
The rain slacked still more.
They crowded to the huge door.
The rain stopped.
It was as if, in the midst of a film concerning an avalanche, a tornado, a hurricane, a volcanic eruption, something had, first, gone wrong with the sound apparatus, thus muffling and finally cutting off all noise, all of the blasts and repercussions and thunders, and then, second, ripped the film from the projector and inserted in its place a beautiful tropical slide which did not move or tremor. The world ground to a standstill. The silence was so immense and unbelievable that you felt your ears had been stuffed or you had lost your 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.
(a) What tends to cause conflict and resentment and why ? Explain it clearly in the light of story.
Answer:
Variations in people, lives and backgrounds tend to cause conflict and resentment due to lack of understanding. Margot migrated on the planet Venus from the Earth. On the Earth she lived in a atmosphere which was entirely different to that of Venus, hence she could not develop a mutual
understanding with those children who were born and brought up on the planet Venus.
(b) What made the children act audaciously against Margot ? What hateful act did they commit and why ?
Answer:
The children’s jealous feelings towards Margot overrode their moral decisions and made them act audaciously. In order to deprive her of seeing the sun’s appearance, they made an aggressive attack on Margot and forcibly locked her in a closet.
(c) What happened as the rain stopped ?
Answer:
As the rain stopped, an immense peace could be felt in the whole atmosphere of the planet Venus. It seemed as if in the midst of a film concerning an avalanche, a tornado, hurricane, a volcanic erruption, something had gone wrong with the sound apparatus and ripped the film from the projector and inserted in its place a beautiful tropical slide.
(d) Why did the teacher look at her watch ? What did she ask the children ? Where did the children gather ?
Answer:
The teacher looked at her watch because the time was approaching when the sun was about to appear. She asked the children if they were ready. The children gathered to the huge door.
(e) How did the children feel for sometime when rain stopped.
Answer:
When the rain stopped, the children felt an immense and unbelievable silence. They felt as if their ears had been stuffed with something or they had lost their hearing capacity completely.
(f) What did the children do when they felt extreme silence ? What came before them as the door slid back ?
Answer:
When the children felt extreme silence, they put their hands to their ears. As the door slid back, a picture of silent and waiting world came to them. In fact the sun had appeared.
Question 10.
The sun came out.
It was the color of flaming bronze and it was very large. And the sky around it was a blazing blue tile color. And the jungle burned with sunlight as the children, released from their spell, rushed out, yelling into the springtime.
“Now, don’t go too far,” called the teacher after them. “You’ve only two hours, you know. You wouldn’t want to get caught out!”
But they were running and turning their faces up to the sky and feeling the sun on their cheeks like a warm iron; they wore taking off their jackets and letting the sun burn their arms.
(a) Why did the children seem to be very eager to see the sun ?
Answer:
The sun appeared in every seven years on the planet Venus. So when the children were two years old, the sun appeared, but they did not have any recollections of that day. So when they heard about the prediction of the sun’s appearing, they seemed to be very eager to see and know about the sun.
(b) What caused the conflict between Margot and the other children ?
Answer:
Margot remembered the sun and other children didn’t. The other children were angry because she had a memory that they didn’t. Margot kept to herself because nobody liked her. It caused the children to bully her into the closet.
(c) How did the children react after the sun came out ? What warning did the teacher give to the children ?
Answer:
As the children were released with the appearance of the sun, they rushed out yelling into the spring time. The teacher warned the children not to go too far as they had only two hours.
(d) What games did the children play ? What did most of the children do?
Answer:
The children ran among the trees. They slipped and fell. They pushed each other. They played hide and seek and tag, but most of all they quinted at the sun until the tears ran down their faces; they put their hands 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.
(e) Do you think that the children paid any heed to the teacher ?
Answer:
It seems that the children were so much overwhelmed with joyous feelings at the sight of the sunshine that they did not pay any heed to their teacher’s warning but became wholly engrossed in their games and activities.
(f) How did the sun look like ? How did the appearance of the sun leave its impact on the sky and the ground ?
Answer:
The sun looked like a flaming bronze. It seemed to be very large. With its appearance, the sky around it was a blazing blue tile colour. The warmth or heat of the sun could be felt on the ground. The jungle seemed to be burning with the sunlight.
Question 11.
And then -In the midst of their running one of the girls wailed. Everyone stopped.
The girl, standing in the open, held out her hand.
“Oh, look, look,” she said, trembling.
They came slowly to look at her opened palm.
In the center of it, cupped and huge, was a single raindrop. She began to cry, looking at it. They glanced quietly at the sun.
“Oh. Oh.”
A few cold drops fell on their noses and their cheeks and their mouths. The sun faded behind a stir of mist. A wind blew cold around them. They turned and started to walk back toward the underground house, their hands at their sides, their smiles vanishing away. A boom of thunder startled them and like leaves before a new hurricane, they tumbled upon each other and ran. Lightning struck ten miles away, five miles away, a mile, a half mile. The sky darkened into midnight in a flash.
(a) How much time did the children spend ? When did they stop running ? What did the girl show them ?
Answer:
The children had been running and enjoying for an hour and they did not stop running until one of the girls wailed. The girl showed them a single drop of the rain at her palm.
(b) What reaction did the children make on hearing the cry of one of the girls ? What did the children see in her hand ?
Answer:
On hearing the cry of one of the girls, the children stopped running. They turned to the girl who was standing in the open with her stretched hand. The children came to her and saw a single rain drop at her opened palm.
(c) Why did the children look quietly at the sun ?
Answer:
The children looked quietly at the sun because it seemed to them that the sun was going to vanish behind the clouds and the violent storms and rains were about to approach soon.
(d) Where did the children start to move and in what mood ?
Answer:
The children’s smiles had vanished away. They felt greatly dejected and disappointed at the disappearance of the sun. With heavy hearts, they turned and started to walk back towards the underground house.
(e) What happened a little later when the children had seen the drop of rain ?
Answer:
A little later when the children had seen the drop of rain, they felt that a few cold drops fell on their noses, cheeks and mouths and a cold wind blew around them.
(f) How was the sky changed ? Why did the children stop in the doorway ?
Answer:
The sky darkened into midnight in a flash. The children stopped in the doorway of the underground as they seemed to be reluctant to go inside until it rained heavily.
Question 12.
“She’s still in the closet where we locked her.” “Margot.”
They stood as if someone had driven them, like so many stakes, into the floor. They looked at each other and then looked away. They glanced out at the world that was raining now and raining and raining steadily. They could not meet each other’s glances. Their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their hands and feet, their faces down. “Margot.”
One of the girls said, “Well…’?”
No one moved.
“Go on,” whispered the girl.
(a) Why did the children tumble upon each other and run ? What type of sound did they hear ?
Answer:
As the children were startled by a boom of thunder, they tumbled upon each other and ran. They heard the gigantic sound of the rain falling in tons and avalanches, everywhere.
(b) Why did the children look at each other ? Where was Margot ?
Answer:
The children looked at each other because they wanted to know whatever they had done with Margot was right or wrong. Margot was still locked in the closet.
(c) Why were the children’s faces solemn and pale ?
Answer:
The children were so much overburdened with the feeling of guilty that their faces had grown solemn and pale. The expressions of their faces clearly showed that they had nothing to say about their unpardonable deed.
(d) How were the feelings of the children changed when they set free Margot from the closet ?
Answer:
When they released Margot from the closet, they had known that Margot was true to her words about the sun. They had also known how beautiful and warm the sun is. This made them remorseful about locking her in the closet.
(e) What do the words ‘Go on’, whispered the girl, signify.
Answer:
All the children were so much ashamed that they had no courage to move on to the closet, but the girl who was also involved in this immoral deed, whispered that they should proceed to release Margot from the closet.
(f) Why did the other children lock Margot in the closet ? In what mood did the children return ?
Answer:
The other children locked Margot in the closet because they despised her. They did not like her as she had the recollections of the sun but they did not have. The children returned remorsefully to let Margot out of the closet.
(g) When do the people begin to feel detach themselves ? What is the significance of jealously ?
Answer:
When differing backgrounds cause turmoil, people begin to feel detach themselves from one another. Jealousy can sometimes override morality. The children’s jealous feelings towards Margot overrode their moral decisions and made them act audaciously.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1.
How do the other students feel about Margot in the story ‘All Summer in A Day ’ ?
Answer:
The story takes place in some future time where earthlings have somehow managed to travel to other planets and colonize them. One of these colonies is on Venus. Bradbury’s vision of Venus is a planet where it rains constantly. The incessant rain really gets to people. It is particularly hard for the children because they do not remember seeing the sun. They were too young when it last appeared for one hour.
Margot is nine years old girl. She is different from the other children because she is from the Earth. On Earth, apparently, the sun still comes out. Margot desperately misses the sun. She wants to go back to Earth in the worst way. Not only does Margot miss the sun, but she does not get along with the other children. They are jealous of her and think she is weird because she keeps herself apart from them. She does not fit in and does not try to. Whenever Margot is mentioned, she is described as being alone and apart from the other kids.
‘She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.’
The children feel excited because the sun is about to appear for the first time in seven years. This means that the other children were just two years old when it last emerged, and of course they don’t remember it. For this reason, they are even more stirred up. Just as the sun is about to come out, they decide to play a trick on Margot. They lock her in the closet.
Question 2.
Why was Margot unhappy on Venus ? Why did the children dislike Margot ? What inferences can you make about Margot’s feelings as she comes out of the closet at the end of the story ?
Answer:
The Reason of Margot’s Unhappiness and Children’s Disliking Her : Margot was unhappy on Venus because she remembered the sun from when she was four and lived on earth. Children disliked Margot because she told them that the sun was going to come out after seven years of straight raining and they thought she was lying. We know this because the boy from her class talks to Margot and says, ‘It was all a joke wasn’t it V He turned to the other children.
‘Nothings happening today. Is it ?’ Another reason why children disliked her was because she might be going back to earth. There was a talk that her father and her mother were taking her back to earth next year. And so the children hated her for all these reasons of big and little consequence. They hated her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness and her possible future.
Inferences about Margot’s Feelings : We can infer that Margot felt frustrated towards her classmates when she got out of the closet because she was the only one who believed the sun was coming out on that day and was the only who did not see it. We know this when Margot talks to the boy: ‘But this is
the day, the scientists predict, they say, they know, the sun ’ At this the boy said that it was all a joke and seized her roughly. He called the other children and asked them to let her put in a closet before the teacher came. She was trying to explain to her classmates that the sun would come out but they thought she was lying. This might make her angry and aggressive when she was taken out of the closet.
Question 3.
How does Ray Bradbury develop the mood in ‘All Summer in a Day’?
Answer:
The Use of Leitmotif : Ray Bradbury creates a leitmotif that expresses repeatedly the idea of rain with recurring phrases; this repetition generates the major atmospheric effect, or mood, of his story. It is an oppressive mood of grey anxiety and cynicism. Here is an example of the use of leithmotif:
‘It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the island. ’
The Effect of Unceasing Rain on Nature and Children: The monotony of this ever-present rain that has killed forests and flowers and any vegetation is rather overpowering. The effect of the grey atmosphere and unceasing rain is reflected in the children’s behaviour as well. They bully the one girl who has come from Ohio and seen the sun and remembered it. To the other children she has committed ‘the biggest crime of all’. So, in their envy and cynical doubt of Margot’s truth about the sun, the children lock her in a closet, causing Margot great anxiety.
Margot’s Suffering from Oppression and Anxiety : In her imprisonment, Margot suffers her worst oppression and anxiety as she is denied the vision of a sunny sky, a vision for which she has long been anxious; she has always remembered and yearned for it. She is also prohibited from the added satisfaction of erasing the cynicism that looms over her from other children who are skeptical of her description of the sun. Certainly, too, the behaviour of these other children underscores the narrator’s tone of cynicism with regard to human nature.
Question 4.
In ‘All Summer in A Day’, what are Margot’s strengths and weaknesses ?
Answer:
Margot’s Strengths: Margot’s strength is in her sensitivity and her ability to be true to herself. She remembers a better world on Earth where the sun often shines. She seems to be strong in her dislike of Venus, where the sun only comes out once every seven years. She shows integrity in her loyalty to earth. She reveals her artistic sensitivity when she writes a poem about the sun : I think the sun is a flower, I that blooms for just one hour. ’ One of the boys in the class protests that she couldn’t have written that.
Because she is true to herself, she tries to communicate her memories of the sun to the other children, comparing it to a fire in the stove and a penny. As she is non conformist, she does not join the other children in their games. She does not pretend to like things she doesn’t like.
Margot’s Weakness : As with the most people, her strengths are also her weaknesses. Her integrity being true to herself—includes a lack of social skills : she doesn’t seem to realise how much she is alienating the other children and acting as if she is superior for having seen the sun.
Her sensitivity is also a weakness : it means she writes nice poetry and has vivid and poetic memories of the sun, but it also leads her to scream as she does not want to take a shower. It causes her parents to think leaving Venus early, despite the money they would lose.
Question 5.
What is the resolution to Ray Bradbury’s ‘All Summer in A Day’?
Answer:
The resolution of a story comes right after the climax. After the climax when the outcome of the conflict is revealed, the resolution usually shows how the characters move forward or react afterward. For Rqy Bradbury’s ‘All Summer in A Day’, the conflict is person vs. society as one little girl is bullied by her classmates because she has seen the sun before and they haven’t. At first, the conflict revolves around Margot and William. Margot believes the sun will shine that day as the scientists predict; however, William, dispenses negativity and doubt in the classroom. All of the children want to see the sunshine because they have never experienced it—or at least they don’t remember it. Margot probably wants to see it shine more because she misses it.
When the children shove Margot into a closet before the sun shines, the reader wonders if she will escape in time to enjoy the rays of the sun. This may be that someone will remember Margot in the closet and free her in time to play in the sun. Unfortunately the climax of the story comes when the clouds cover up the sun again and a little girl remembers her and screams, ‘Margot!’ It is at this point that everyone knows Margot’s fate and that she won’t be able to see the sun that day or for another seven years. The resolution, then, is when the class goes back into the building to free Margot from the closet after the sun goes away. The text seems to suggest that the children know they have done something wrong to Margot because it says the following :
‘They walked slowly down the hall in the sound of the cold rain They
walked over to the closet door slowly and stood by it. Behind the closet door was only silence. They unlocked the door, even more slowly and let Margot out.’
The fact that the children proceed very slowly when freeing Margot suggests they know what they did is wrong. They are not happy, joyful, skipping, or shouting because of a fun day in the sun. The moment is diminished because of their hateful actions towards a classmate. Therefore, the resolution is that Margot is freed, but she does not yet to enjoy the sun; sadly, the children recognise that they did something they can never take back, change or rectify.
Question 6.
In the story ‘All Summer in A Day9, how is the sun described ?
Answer:
In the story, the people who live on Venus only see the sun for an hour once every seven years. The story revolves around a class of nine-year-old children who were bom on Venus and cannot remember what the sun looks or feels like. Margot however, who was born on Earth, remembers the sun vividly. Margot’s perspective provides many figurs of speech and descriptions about the sun. For example, Margot recalls the following about the sun :
‘About how like a lemon it was and how hot………………… ‘I the sun is a flower ………. It’s like a penny’, she said once, eyes closed ……………. It’s like a fire’, she said, in the stove.’
In the above passage, there are three similies and one metaphor that Bradbury uses to describe the sun through Margot’s eyes. First, the similes compare the sun to a lemon, a penny and a fire in the stove. Then a metaphor compares the sun to a flower. These comparisons are based on Margot’s perspective and on things that she would know or relate to in her child-like mind. Lemons, pennies, flowers, and fires are all possibly connected to her life’s experiences; therefore, it is from these experiences that she is likely to retrieve information to describe the sun. None of the other classmates understand her, though, because they do not share similar experiences with the sun. She could only think to herself the following :
‘She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands.’
When the sun finally comes out and the children are released to go outside to experience it, the sun is described using personification as follows :
‘………………. When the sun came out for an house and showed its face to the stunned world It was the colour of flaming bronze and it was very large. And the sky around it was a blazing blue tile colour.’
It is interesting that other visual images through colours are observed when the sun comes out: ‘flaming bronze’ and ‘blazing blue’. The children’s reactions also bring out colourful descriptions of the sky as follows :
‘…………. they put their hands up to that yellowness and that amazing blueness and they breathed of the fresh, fresh air………….’
Therefore, Bradbury uses similes, metaphors, personification and visual images of colour to describe the sun and its effects on characters in the story.
Question 7.
In the story ‘All Summer in A Day9 what happens while Margot is in the closet ?
Answer:
Ray Bradbury’s story is set in the future, when people live on Venus. There it rains constantly; the sun only emerges once every seven years. Since the children are nine years old, they have no memory of the sun. Because Margot has moved to Venus from Earth, she remembers what the sun looks like and how it feels warm on the flesh and ‘like a blushing’ on the face and how it looks ‘like a penny’. She stands apart from the others and does not wish to play their games with them in the underground tunnels of the city, which are artificially lighted. It is because she does not play with the others and because she never sings unless the song is about the sun that the other children hate her for ‘these reasons of big and little consequence.’
When one cruel boy sees in Margot’s eyes that she eagerly waits for the hour of the sun, he tells her ‘It’s all a joke!’ but she insists that this day is the one which the scientists have determined that the sun will emerge.
All a joke!’ said the boy, and seized her roughly. ‘Hey, everyone, let’s put her in a closet before the teacher comes!’ ‘No’, said Margot, falling back.
The cruel children push Margot into a closet, watching as she throws herself against the door desperately. They smile as they turn and go back down into the tunnel before the teacher arrives. When the sun comes out, the children are ecstatic; they squint at the sun and they remove their jackets to feel the rays upon their arms. They put their hands up to that yellowness and that amazing bluness and they breathe of the fresh air and listen to the silence which suspends them in a blessed sea of no sound and no motion.
And then it is over. A raindrop falls in one girl’s hand. Then, another girl utters a faint cry: ‘Margot.’ Margot, whose greatest desire was to again see and feel the sun, has been in the closet all the time.
Question 8.
How did the geography of Venus change when the sun came out ?
Answer:
‘All Summer in A Day’ is a short science fiction story. The story introduces a group of children living on Venus which is dominated by rainfall and the absence of the sun. In the story, Venus only received sunlight for two hours every seven years (not scientifically accurate). In the beginning of the story, Bradbury introduces the planet’s weather and geography :
‘It had been raining for seven years ; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands. A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again.’
In the story, most children aged about nine had only experienced life on Venus, but some people remembered the environment of earth. Margot, a transferred student, remembered the sunlight she experienced on Earth. Her experience, which differed from that of her peers, opened her up to criticism from her friend. In fact, Margot’s experience depicts how important geography is to Bradury’s story for its ability to drive social interactions :
‘And then, of course, the biggest crime of all was that she had come here only five years ago from Earth and she remembered the sun and the way the sun was and the sky was then she was four in Ohio. ’
The story built to a moment in which the children were finally able to experience the sun. Bradbury took this opportunity to further describe the grography of Venus:
‘They stopped running and stood in the great jungle that covered Venus, that grew and never stopped growing, tumultuously, even as you watched it. It was a nest ofoctopi, clustering up great arms of flesh like weed, wavering, flowering in this brief spring. It was the colour of rubber and ash, this jungle, from the many years without sun. It was the colour stones and white cheeses and ink and it was the colour of the moon.
By the end of the story, the sun had disappeared again after showing its glimpse for a brief time. Although the geography itself did not change in the story, it played a central role for the characters.
