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All Summer in A Day Activity Sheet (Teacher)
All Summer in A Day Activity Sheet (Teacher)
2. Bradbury uses several metaphors and similes to create vivid images in this story. Locate
six of these metaphors and similes. In the left column, copy the simile or metaphor as it
appears in the story (copy the format of the example). In the right column, explain the
comparison being made. Be detailed and look beyond the literal.
Ex: “It’s like a fire, in the stove.” Line 69 Margot is comparing the sun to a fire inside a
(simile) stove.
1. “The children pressed to each other like so The children were tightly bunching together in
many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, a group to get a look at the sun so the author
peering out for a look at the hidden sun.” compares them as a group, to weeds that
(Simile) grow closely together.
2. “with the sweet crystal fall of showers” The author is using this to describe rain,
(Metaphor) comparing it to crystals.
3. “But then they always awoke to the tatting A tatting drum and shaking of clear bead
drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces are sounds which the author uses to
necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the describe the noise of the rain.
gardens, the forests, and their dreams were
gone.” (Metaphor)
4. “They turned on themselves, like a feverish The author compares the students turning on
wheel, all tumbling spokes.” (Simile) each other like an uncontrolled, restless
wheel.
5. “She was a very frail girl who looked as if The author is trying to say that she looked like
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she had been lost in the rain for years and the her once happy soul had now withered away
rain had washed out the blue from her eyes because of being stuck in the rain for so long.
and the red from her mouth and the yellow
from her hair.” (Simile)
6. “She was an old photograph dusted from an This line is further describing her withered
album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all soul and adding that she was quiet and was
her voice would be a ghost. “ (Metaphor) like an old photograph whitened away, that
time had taken its toll.
7. “It’s like a penny.” (Simile) She is describing the sun to the kids. She is
trying to describe the color.
3. Direct characterization (the author tells us directly what this character is like) and
indirect characterization (the author shows us what the character is like through the
character’s actions, thoughts, and words) are both used in the story. Find an example of
each for the character Margot.
Direct characterization:
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.
Indirect Characterization: But she did not move; rather she let herself be moved only by him
and nothing else.
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.
4. Figure out as many types of conflict as you can in the story. Fill out the chart below.
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door. They stood looking at the door and saw
it tremble from her beating and throwing
herself against it. They heard her muffled
cries. (Lines 93-95)
Person vs. Nature 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. (Lines 62-63)
5. What causes the main conflict in the story? What is the main conflict? The kids are
jealous of Margot’s knowledge of the sun. Person vs. Group / Margot vs. Other students
b. Social Groups: total absence of social groups other than the “state”
- independent religion is notable because of omittance
- family is attacked: the hostility to motherhood
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-the protagonist puts his/her faith in these people, but futilely
7. What kind of world does Margot live in? How does it compare to our world?
It rains every single day. There is only 2 hours of sun on one day every 7 years. In all honesty, it
sounds dreadful.
8. In “All Summer in a Day,” Margot is like a captive. She is trapped, living under conditions
that are slowly destroying her. What are some conditions here on Earth that are similar
to Margot’s? List at least three.
Poverty
Third world countries
Countries with lots of wars
9. A theme in this story has something to do with why people are sometimes cruel to one
another. The author says the children hated Margot for:
“all these reasons of big and little consequence. They hated her
pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness and her
possible future….” (lines 77-78)
Tell which of these reasons you think are of “big consequence” and which are of “little
consequence.”
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She didn’t seem to like being around them.
She was from earth and had only come to Venus when she was 4.