Feihu Yan

12/13/13
English T4
Ms. Atufe
Portraying Social Order Through Child Behavior
In Bradburys All Summer in a Day and The Playground, he explores the survival of
the weak under the powerful in harsh realities through children in which he also discovers the
darkness of human nature.
Margot and Mr. Underhill, in both short stories respectively, represent innocence as they
both are victims and survivors of the harsh oppression. Describing Margot in All Summer in a
Day as She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away (ASIAD Pg. 1),
Bradbury presents Margot as a fragile, vulnerable girl who lives on the precious memories of
sun, which cause her peers to be jealous of her experience. Being a quiet, shy girl, she often
defends the idea of sun with her memory; the kindness of her advocation, the calmness of her
attitude however, turns her peers jealousy into hatred. Showing weakness, isolate herself
socially, she is an easy target for the bullies. It is only human nature that children would pick on
her, along with her dream of sun. However, she survives and lives through many ordeals because
she has a dream to live for, an idea to defend. In The Playground, Bradbury took a different
approach in exploring survival. Through Tom Marshalls convincing argument: Youd like to
save him all that torture, let him be in your place, grown-up, the real work over and done (TP
Pg. 389), Bradbury shows that Mr. Underhill is willing to trade places with his son was willing to
endure the horrific playground experiences for his son. His sacrificial spirit and moral rationality
present him as a victims in the matter. However, Mr. Underhill is a willing victim, a survivor
who knows he is doing this because of his love for his son. Comparing Margot and Mr.

Feihu Yan
12/13/13
English T4
Ms. Atufe
Underhill, it is really the inner spirit that make them alike. Willing victim or not, they survive
throughout the story because they had something to live for, to fight for.
William on Venus and the kids in the playground represent the harsh reality of a twisted
society in which the strong and the majority oppress the weak. Although young, William in All
Summer in a Day, the leader of the boys, who is jealous of Margots experience and finds
Margots shy nature vulnerable. While Margot defends her memory and opinion about the sun,
the jealousy he feels for Margot turns into anger overtime, which overtakes his rationality and
commits the crime that deeply affects Margot, destroying her dreaming the process. After the
excitement for the sun, rain start pouring down, and They looked at each other and then looked
away (ASIAD Pg.4) after they realize Margot is in the closet for the entire event, they feel the
guilt and regret of how badly they have treated Margot. However, no matter what they feel after,
it is disturbing how childhood innocence can be manipulated by negative emotions so easily.
They had no control over their awful behavior. In The Playground, Bradburys use of irony
reverses the corruption in adult world and innocence of childhood. As many parents switch
places with their kids, the behavior of children in the playground reflect and mirror the the harsh
adult reality, which the wealthy and the powerful have control over the poor and the weak.
Describing Mr. Underhills thought: This is hellthis is hell! (TP Pg. 392), Bradbury portrays
the scene without mercy, shows the panic, the pain he was going through and sends readers a
message that sometimes noble acts are not rewarded. In both stories, Bradbury questions
childrens innocence as well as our social order in general. Both stories present the severity of

Feihu Yan
12/13/13
English T4
Ms. Atufe
oppression of different sorts at different levels. Bradburys story reveal the dark human nature, in
which the strong naturally oppress the weak.
Through All Summer in a Day and The Playground, Bradbury effectively expresses
his concerns for the human nature through the behavior of children.
He explores the survival of the weak under this nature in which the strong oppress the weak.
Through bullying, he discovered that innocence can be easily manipulated into unpleasant
decisions by negative emotions. Through the playground, he shows us the barbaric nature which
include chasing, beating, taunting While oppression is a huge theme in both stories, the ways
of survival strike the reader as well. Margots survival under the boys, especially William, is
based on the idea of sun, while Mr. Underhills survival is his commitment to his sons happiness
and safety. They both survival because they had things to survive for. The spirit that kept them
fighting is definitely admirable. Everyone live for a purpose, or purposes, without a purpose,
lives can be meaningless, hollow and shallow.