One Drive link: Sequence 02_1.mp4
Transcript
“All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury, published in 1954, is a science fiction short story about a dystopian society living on Venus, where the sun comes out once every seven years. For the rest of their lives, the humans inhabiting the planet live under a constant cover of clouds and rain. The author chooses to center the story around the perspective of the children in the society, most of whom have never seen the sun. One child, however, moved to Venus later than the other children after spending the first few years of her life on Earth. Margot remembers the sun and the warmth of Earth, and the other children hate her for it. She deeply feels the loss of the sun, does not play with the other children, and only expresses interest in talking and learning about the sun. Because she is so foreign to the other children, they constantly bully her. When the day comes that the sun finally comes out, the children lock her in a closet, and she misses the entire event. Through this extreme example in a science fiction context, Bradbury condemns the tendency of humans and societies to target and discriminate against those who are different.
Part of this discrimination is conveyed by Bradbury’s use of intense imagery to represent the stark divide between Margot and the other children. In a literal sense, Bradbury uses words like “separate” and “stood alone” to describe Margot’s position and isolated state from the other students. Margot is further 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” (Bradbury 1-2). Bradbury uses imagery to describe Margot as colorless, and this helps to portray the way that the children on Venus look at her: as someone who has no interest or value to them. Bradbury creates sympathy for Margot through her pitiful descriptions that heighten our understanding of her pain when she misses out on experiencing the sun. We feel even worse for Margot when we find out her only source of interest and happiness is the sun: “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” (Bradbury 2). Bradbury intentionally creates this sympathy within readers to put us on the side of those who are discriminated against in society and condemn those who are prejudiced. The readers can sympathize with Margot further because the world of Venus is foreign to us as well, but not to the other characters in the story.
Discrimination is also portrayed through the imagery Bradbury uses to represent the contrast between Venus and Earth, or darkness and light. Venus itself is similarly described as void of color: “It was the color of rubber and ash, this jungle, from the many years without sun. It was the color of stones and white cheeses and ink, and it was the color of the moon” (Bradbury 3). In this sense, Bradbury is using the darkness and absence of color on Venus as a symbol of the cruelty society imposes upon those who are different. The “darkness” or intense prejudices that society holds drains the color and life from Margot. Margot was not colorless before she arrived on Venus because we can assume she was not being so harshly discriminated against on her former planet. Her memories of Earth are described full of color, as when the narrator describes the sun as “like a fire in the stove” (Bradbury 2). The sun is a directly opposing symbol to the absence of color on Venus. The sun represents equality, awareness, and hope for what the world could be like without prejudice. The planet where Margot comes from is covered in this light, and in a way, this threatens the children who have been so used to the darkness their whole lives. The same darkness that only allows the “sun” to come out for a few hours every seven years.
Like in this story, prejudice in the real world is a very hard thing to overcome, especially when it has been taught to someone from a young age. These themes of discrimination, darkness, and light are significant when one considers that Bradbury wrote this story during the American civil rights movement. “All Summer in a Day” may have been Bradbury’s commentary on the discrimination of African Americans and the treatment he saw them endure because of their differences. Using a dystopian setting as the context for the story, Bradbury may have been warning society against inequity and injustice by showing us a bleak picture of how tolerating discrimination would influence the future and our children. Using young children as the main characters in the story garners further sympathy for Margot and shows readers that discrimination can greatly influence the young minds of society. Margot may be another symbol of light in this story as the only one who recognizes that being mistreated because of differences is wrong, while all the other characters are left in the dark and continue to hold prejudices. Margot’s time on Earth may have been an enlightenment to what the world should look like without inequities. However, those on Venus have never had this enlightenment and have gotten used to the darkness of discrimination and therefore feel threatened by her.
The children who bully and oppress Margot are physical embodiments of this darkness, or discriminatory tendencies. In contrast, Margot is an embodiment of the impact of discrimination. While all the children are described as hating Margot, there is one spokesperson for their hatred named William who seems to take charge of the bullying. When the boy decides to lock Margot in a closet while all the other children enjoy the warmth and glory of the sun, Margot does nothing to provoke this hateful action. This is much like how African Americans were and still are discriminated against for things they cannot change. He says to her, “What’re you looking at?” and “Speak when you’re spoken to” as if he feels a sense of superiority over her (Bradbury 2). When William suggests that they should lock her in the closet, there is no hesitation from the other students to do exactly what he says. The children “surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and then pleading, and then crying, where they slammed and locked the door” (Bradbury 3). William, their leader, seems to be a representation of how discrimination is a powerful force that drives conformity. The other children and even the teacher are complacent to his treatment of her. Their conformity is emphasized by the imagery Bradbury uses to describe the children at the beginning of the story: “The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun” (Bradbury 1). Bradbury is condemning the tendency of people to follow a group and conform to their ideals rather than diverge from the norm or “weeds” and risk being discriminated against themselves. There are many instances in this story in which Bradbury uses plant imagery to depict how discriminatory norms can fester and eventually infect an entire garden of people.
Through the intense imagery and metaphorical language that Bradbury uses in this short story, it is clear that he is criticizing the human tendency to create an unjust world for those who are different. By putting the characters in a sci-fi context, Bradbury is using a foreign and fantastical scenario to represent the common and real-world problem of discrimination in a way that tricks the reader into questioning discriminatory norms. Margot’s only happiness came from her hope of seeing the sun and feeling the warmth she once felt on Earth, and she is intensely sad when the other children cause her to miss the event. Even at the ending of Bradbury’s story when the kids finally let Margot out, it is unclear if the children will feel remorse in a way that would garner a change in their treatment of her. Unless Margot goes back to Earth, she very well may have to deal with the same harsh treatment for the next seven years. Bradbury’s story is a warning. He recognizes the tolerance of discrimination in his own society during the civil rights movement and uses this story as a way of garnering sympathy for those who are discriminated against and depicting a bleak picture of how continuing this tolerance could impact our future. Discrimination continues today, and if society does not learn to embrace equality instead of hatred, we will be consumed by darkness. Bradbury is raising awareness about the complexities of discrimination and how deeply it impacts those we cast out. Instead of being threatened by those we do not understand, we can learn from them and create a better, brighter future.
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