All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury is a science fiction story that takes place on Venus, where the sun comes out once every 7 years for just two hours. All of the kids are excited to see the sun because the last time it came out was when they were two years old, and they do not remember anything about the sun. For the past 7 years, all there has been is colossal amounts of rain. Only Margot, whose parents came from Earth a few years ago, remembers anything about the sun. All of her classmates are jealous because she is the only one who remembers the sun and because she will return to Earth in one year, so she will get to see the sun every day. Due to this fact, she is often the target of the bully, William. The other kids decided to lock her in a closet so that she will miss this chance to see the sun. Once the sun came out, the children went outside and enjoyed its beautiful rays. Unfortunately, the sun seemed to disappear just as fast as it came into view.
People may victimize those who they perceive as different based on where others come from, their skin color, or their beliefs. Humans sometimes perceive themselves as superior to others because of who they are. Out of all the kids, Margot was the only one to come from Earth. One of the reasons her classmates were bullying her constantly may have been that she is from another planet. This racist attitude seems to be quite common in the class. After just one of them proposed to lock Margot in a closet, everyone joined in. Despite the fact that she did not do anything to deserve this treatment, her classmates didn’t mind and deprived her of her chance to enjoy the sun after 5 years. Margot’s classmates hated her because she was from Earth and she was different. Due to their negative attitudes, they locked her in the closet even though she did nothing wrong and simply tried to reason with them. Margot’s classmates bullied her not just because she used to see the sun every day and will be able to do so again in a year, but also due to the fact that she was from Earth and therefore, “different” from them.
It is difficult to convince people to believe in something that they do not see, especially since they can be stubborn. Humans always believe in things that they see, so seeing is believing. The children did not trust Margot’s account of how the sun felt and looked like because they had never seen the sun. On top of that, their relations were already strained so Margot was even more distrusted by her classmates. As a result, her classmates believed she was lying when she said that she knew what the sun looked like. Furthermore, when Margot wrote a poem about the sun, everybody said that she didn’t write it because they believed she could not have written about it if she did not remember. Margot’s classmates did not remember much about the sun, so when she told them about what it looks like, they were reluctant to believe her, especially since they hated her. People can be quite stubborn sometimes, especially when told about something that they did not see for themselves.
Jealousy can bring out the worst in people and cause them to do awful things. In fact, one of the Ten Commandments in the Bible specifically forbids jealousy, stating that “you shall not covet anything that is your neighbor’s”. All of Margot’s classmates were jealous of her because not only did she remember what the sun looks like, but she also will return to Earth in one year with her parents, so she can see the sun every morning. This made her the target of the class bully, William. Later, the kids decided to lock Margot inside a closet so that she would have to wait to go back to Earth to see the sun. The children were jealous because they received far from enough sunshine on Venus, but Margot could see the sun every day once she was back on Earth. As a result, they bullied her both physically and verbally. They also deny the fact that she wrote a poem about the sun, stating that she couldn’t have written about it if she didn’t remember. Due to their intense jealousy of Margot, the kids hate her.
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury takes place in the future on Venus, where the sun shines once every 7 years for only a couple of hours and it rains during any other time. Margot’s family moved from Earth to Venus 5 years ago so she got plenty of sunshine every day. She also remembered what the sun looked and felt like. This story reveals the dark side of human nature, such as jealousy and racism. It teaches us how some people treat others whom they view as different. For example, Margot’s classmates, especially William, bullied her due to her origins from Earth. This story also shows that it can be difficult to convince people to believe in something they don’t know or see. Finally, jealousy is another theme of the story. As shown when Margot’s classmates lock her in the closet, jealousy can cause people to do evil things. All Summer in a Day is a great story that exposes the dark side of human nature in a dystopian setting.
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