Essay on ‘All Summer in a Day’ Conflict
The plot:
The story is about a class of schoolchildren on Planet Venus. The atmosphere of Venus is such that it is constantly raining. The sun is only visible for two hours every seven years.
Margot is a little girl who moved to Venus from Earth just five years before the story takes place, so she is the only one in her class to remember sunshine. She is an outcast because of her sensitivity and the fact that it is rumored that she may return to Earth next year.
The kids are jealous of Margot because she remembers the sun from her time on Earth. They were only two years old when it was last visible on Venus and do not remember it. She feels extremely depressed because of living with the relentless rain. Margot describes the sun in the poem that she writes as a “sunflower,” a penny,’ or ‘like a fire in the stove.’ The other children do not believe what she expresses. The students bully her because she is from Earth. While the teacher is out of the room, a boy convinces the other children to lock Margot in the closet. Oblivious to this, the teacher takes the other children outside to enjoy the two hours of sunshine. In their much-anticipated excitement, they all forget about Margot. They run and play, skip jump, and prance about, savoring every second of their newly found freedom. All at once, a girl starts to cry because she feels a raindrop in her hand. She sadly realizes the rain is returning. The thunder sounds, and the children run back inside. Suddenly, one of the children remembers Margot, still locked in the closet. They stand frozen realizing what they have done. The children walk slowly towards the closet and let Margot out. The precious sun has come and gone, leaving Margot still pale in gloom and darkness.
Analysis:
Bradbury uses multiple literary devices such as similes, metaphors, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, and repetition to reveal the themes of Jealousy, malice, loneliness, discontentment, anticipation, and the empowering quality of nature. The story itself is narrated in the third person point of view, while the author shines a light with a tone to help readers capture Margot’s melancholy. The themes of jealousy and bullying stand out and are evident throughout the story where a group of kids ostracizes and excludes a child because of her life experiences. Sunlight is the all-empowering experience that the children in Venus most miss, and are antagonistic toward Margot who has had ample. Margot writes a lovely poem about the sun with details and clarity which are almost unbelievable to others. Hence to discredit her, William says, “Aw, you didn’t write that!” Jealousy is the underlying emotion behind the bullying that follows in the story when the children lock up Margot in a dark closet, preventing her from experiencing the Sun. In their mind, these children resent that Margot got to enjoy what they had been denied, hence using bullying as a way to fix a misperceived injustice. Throughout the story, Bradbury cleverly brings out the important theme of loneliness that Margot feels. “She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.” Margot was shunned to the point where she had no one to talk to, no one who listened, and she was depressed all the time. This was compounded by the fact that it rained all the time creating the morbid mood. Anticipation for the sun was so high, while discontentment existed because subconsciously they realized that life on Venus is not for human existence.
The author discusses various conflicts in the story. The person versus person conflict mainly reflects the conflict between Margot and William, who is the self-appointed leader of the mob. ‘Well, don’t wait around here!’ cried the boy savagely. ‘You won’t see anything!’ Margot deals with William’s bullying every step of the way only because she is unable to fight back. The conflict of person versus society is reflected in the way Margot deals with her schoolmates who are judgemental and cruel in their interactions with her. “At William’s urging, all the children surge around Margot and push her into a closet in the hallway as she pleads and cries. As Margot throws herself against the locked door, the children smile at each other and return to their classroom just as their teacher reappears.” The conflict of person versus nature is apparent in how it rains continuously in Venus and the Sun comes out only for only a couple of hours once every seven years. “A group of children presses against the window of their underground classroom on the planet Venus, watching as the rain outside begins to slow. It has been raining ceaselessly for years on Venus, the sun comes out once every seven years, but only for an hour, and today is the day when scientists predict that the sun will appear.”
Bradbury enriched the prose with several literary devices to emphasize the mood and tone of the story and the characters. “But they were running and turning their faces up to the sky feeling the Sun on their cheeks like a warm iron,” is a simile that describes the excitement the children felt when the Sun came out. Margot describes the Sun as a “Penny” indicating that although shiny, a penny is not of much worth on Earth, comparing it with Sunlight that is abundantly available on Earth. “….and if she spoke at all, her voice would be a ghost.” is an example of the metaphor that describes how Margot felt. There are combinations of Onomatopoeia with other devices in places. For example, “ A boom of thunder startled them and leaves before a new hurricane, they tumbled upon each other they ran,” uses both Onomatopoeia and Simile to describe how they reacted to the start of rain. “The children lay out laughing on the jungle mattress and heard it squeak and sign under them,” uses Onomatopoeia and personification. “Then they closed the door and heard the gigantic sound of the rain falling in tons and avalanches everywhere forever.” is an example of hyperbole to describe the way the rain came back with a vengeance.
In conclusion, the author has put in place various techniques to communicate a moral through this story. Through the characters, he is telling the reader one important thing, treat others the way you would like to be treated. Most of the time, people don’t like changes in their surroundings, especially when it conflicts with their reality. When someone does say something or does something out of this ordinary state, they overreact and force that person out of society. ”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.’ The class refuses to believe Margot because she has more exposure than them. Therefore, they resort to ignoring and excluding her. After they remembered Margot was in the closet, ‘they stood as if someone had driven them, like so many stakes, into the floor. They looked at each other and looked away…. their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their hands and feet, their faces down.’ Bullying will result in guilt because the group never realized the possibility of the event happening. That guilt is what the children felt towards Margot. Through this story, Bradbury is telling the reader that before you go against a single person, listen to what they have to say and open your ears to all sides of a story.