RYAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, GOREGAON

SESSION 2022-23
SUBJECT: ENGLISH
TOPIC: ALL SUMMER IN A DAY
REFERENCE TO CONTEXT

Name: ____________________________ Class: ___________________

Roll No: __________________________ Date: ___________________
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Q. 1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
"He gave her a shove. But she did not move, rather she let herself be moved only by him and
nothing else. They edged away from her; they would not look at her. She felt them go away."
[Board Sem-II, Specimen Question Paper 2021-22]
(i) Who is 'she'? Describe her.
'She' is Margot. She is a weak, lifeless girl who had lost the lustre from her eyes, the blush
from her face, and the yellow from her hair. She looked like an old photograph dusted from
an album, whitened away. Margot is nine years old and resides on planet Venus. She lived on
Earth, in 'Ohio' until she was four. Now she studies together with the children of those who
have come to civilise the planet, Venus.
(ii) Where is this story set? Mention any two ways in which the way of life on other
planets differs from the life on Earth.
The story is set on planet Venus, where the sun shines for only two hours once every seven
years. The two ways in which the life on other planets differs from life on earth are:
Firstly, unlike Earth, the rain fell incessantly with storms on planet Venus. Thousands of
forests had been crushed under it and grounded to be crushed again.
Secondly, the lack of sunlight had washed away the colour of the skin of the people living on
Venus. The people there lived in underground colonies.
(iii) To what does Margot compare the sun? What does this tell us about her?
Margot tells the others that sun is round like a 'penny' and not like a 'fire in the store'. Her
description of the sun tells that she is able to accurately recall the sun and the way it looked
and felt as it shone on her when she was back in Ohio, on the planet earth, five years ago.
(iv) Why did the other children not come to Margot's aid when William shoved her?
Margot struggles to fit her life on Venus, but in vain. She does not get along with the other
children there. They resent her for her past experiences on Earth with the sun, and they are
also angry and jealous that she has the opportunity to travel back to Earth, regardless of the

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financial costs. They do not help her when William, one of her classmates, shoves her, as
they supported him in his dislike for Margot.
(v)How does Margot's behaviour set her apart from the others? Why do you suppose
the other children treat her the way they do?
Margot has many memories of the sun and she misses it a lot. She refuses to participate in
any classroom activity that doesn't include the sun. She hated the Venusian rain so much that
she detests the running showers in the schools shower rooms.
The children treat her this way as they despise her and are painfully jealous because Margot
has seen the sun and they have not. They never remember a time when there wasn't a rain.
They especially hate her when they learn that her parents, fearful of the strong distress that
Venusian's life is causing their daughter, are planning to take her back to Earth
Q2. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
“Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could ever remember a time when
there wasn't rain and rain and rain.”
a. Who is Margot? Where is she? Who are these children'?
Margot is a thin pale, nine years old girl. She is on the planet Venus. She lived on Earth
earlier. These children are the children of the rocket men and women who had come to planet
Venus to set up their civilisation. They had established underground settlements full of long
tunnels.
b. What are the children getting ready for? What is unique about the life on Venus?
The children are getting ready to witness the momentous occasion when the sun will come
out for two hours after seven years. Unfortunately, it rains constantly on Venus. It falls
without a break, day in and day out, in massive showers. However, for one day, once every
seven years, the rain does cease and the sun is briefly visible.
c. What did the children dream of?
Sometimes during the night, Margot heard the children stir, as if recollecting a memory and
she understood that they were dreaming of gold or a yellow crayon or a coin large enough to
buy the world with. They remembered a warmth, like a blushing in the face, in the body,
arms, legs and trembling hands.
d. Why is Margot different from the other children?
Margot lived on Earth, in Ohio, until she was four years old. She has many memories of the
sun unlike others, because they were far too young when the sun shone the last. When Margot
tells them that the sun is round like a penny and hot like fire, they accuse her of lying. She
distances herself from others.
e. Why do they dislike her?
She does not participate in their games and activities except those that included the sun and
the summer. She misses the sun immensely. She remembers the beauty and warmth of the
sun. Ever since she came on Venus she had been in depression. She had become pale. She

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refused to shower in the school shower room as the water reminded her of the Venusian rain.
There is a talk circulating that her parents are considering to take her back to Earth, though it
would mean a loss of thousands of dollars. Thus, the other school children despise her and are
jealous of her. They bully her constantly.
Q3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
“They all blinked at him and then, understanding laughed and shook their heads.”
[ICSE 2020]
a. Whom do 'they' blink at? Why? What preparation had the children done before
witnessing the special occurrence of the sun?
Margot looks out of the window, waiting silently for the rain to stop and the sun to come out.
One of the boys, jokes with her and tells that nothing of such was going to happen and to
confirm it, he asks others to join him in teasing and fooling Margot. They blink at him
signifying their support to the boy's lie. They tell her that the scientists were wrong in their
predictions about the sun. The children had constantly read and discussed about the sun. They
had completed their classroom activities and written poems about the sun.
b. How do the children take revenge on Margot?
When Margot begins to panic on hearing that the sun is not going to appear, the boy who
seemed to be particularly hostile towards her, conceives of the idea to lock Margot in the
cupboard while the teacher is gone. Margot tries to resist but they overpower her and lock her
in the faraway closet. The children are darkly pleased with themselves after punishing
Margot, who is left crying and beating against the closet.
c. What is the significance of two hours? What do the children do during these two
hours?
As per the prediction of the scientists, the sun would appear only for two hours, so the
children had the opportunity to enjoy the sunlight for only this time. And when the sun
appears, the rain stops, the children rush out into the sunshine. They run through the rapidly
growing foliage and enjoy the warmth of the sun on their skin. They play hide and seek, and
they push and slip. They looked squintingly at the sun till tears ran down their eyes, they
breathed the fresh air and listened to the silence. They ran around like wild animals. They
completely drenched themselves in the beauty and warmth of the sun.
d. How did they react when the rain drops came back again?
The children lose track of time in their enjoyment when the sporadic rain drops begin to fall
again. As the first drop fell on the hands of a girl, she trembled with fear and disappointment
and began to cry. The others also stopped playing immediately and they sadly began
returning to their school. The last rays of the sunlight are replaced by thunder and rain.
e. Why do the children unlock the closet door silently? What was their silence behind
the closet?
The children realise that they had played a very mean prank on Margot. They had deprived
her of the glimpse of the sun for another seven years. She had been so keenly waiting for this

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experience. They were enjoying the bright sunlight while Margot was locked inside. The
realisation of the gravity of their guilt made them slow and silent.
Margot had given up the efforts to free herself from the closet. She had lost the opportunity to
witness the sun, after such a long wait. This made her completely distressed and gloomy and
she stops banging against the closet realising it is of no use now.
Q4. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
“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. And then, of course, the biggest crime of all was that she had come here only five
years ago from Earth.”
(i) What was the impact of rain on Margot?
Margot 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 the red from her mouth and the yellow from her
hair. She had an appearance of an old photograph dusted from an album and her voice was
like a ghost.
(ii) What happened when she used to stare at the rain?
When she used to stare at the rain, William targeted her saying "What are you looking at" and
when she replied nothing, he asked her to speak forcibly. He gave her a rough push. The
children isolated her from the group and did not look at her.
(iii) Why did children tease her?
The children teased her just because she did not play any games with them in the echoing
tunnels of the underground city. If they tagged her and ran away, she would not follow and
stood there blinking after them. She hardly accompanied them when the class sang songs
about happiness and life and games. She only sang when the children sang about the sun and
the summer.
(iv) How Margot was a bit different from the other children?
The children did not mix up with Margot as she was a bit different from them. Her biggest
crime was that she had come on their planet only five years ago from Earth, and she
remembered the sun and the way the sun was and the sky was when she was only four in
Ohio. And those children had been on Venus all their lives, and they had been only two years
old when last the sun came out. They had long since forgotten the colour and heat of it but
Margot remembered everything.
(v) What is the story about?
The story is about the life on planet Venus where it had been raining constantly for the past
seven years and the children who were born on that planet were only two years old when they
had last seen the sunshine. They were confined in the thick glass windows from which they
could hear the loud noise of rain and it was so wet outside that there were rubber and ash
coloured jungle of weeds, flowers and huge trees that covered the planet.

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Q1. Who seems to be the antagonist in the story 'All Summer in a Day', and why?
William, one of Margot's classmates, is the antagonist in the story, because he often bullies
her. Perhaps, due to a sense of jealously and the inability to understand Margot, he speaks
harshly to her and shoves her. This encourages other children too to trap Margot in a hostile
manner. As Margot was in a depressed state for being away from the feel of sun, she does not
mix up with other children. She does not play with them and it was heard that she would
leave for earth soon. So, the other children disliked her and treated her differently. They are
unable to comprehend her feeling. William leads the others. On the day, when the sun was
predicted to rise on Venus, William, with the support of other children, grabs Margot and
locks her in a closet and deprives her from the greatest joy she had been waiting for so
anxiously, so William is the main bully.
Q2. How can we say that Margot is the protagonist of the story?
Margot, the protagonist of "All Summer in a Day" is a nine-year-old girl who moved from
Ohio to the planet Venus when she was four years old. Margot longs intensely for the sun,
which she remembers vividly from her time on Earth. Without the sun, Margot has become
withdrawn, pale, and sombre, avoiding the company of other children and thinking only of
summertime. Margot's classmates treat her coldly or with jealousy, because they have hardly
experienced the sun at all and will likely remain on Venus for the rest of their lives, while
Margot may be lucky enough to return to Earth. On the much-anticipated single day of
summer, Margot becomes a scapegoat for the other children's longing and deprivation: they
lock her in a closet so she won't be able to see the sun, which is the experience she most
craves.
Q3. Describe the theme of jealousy, bullying and isolation in the story ‘All summer in a
Day'.
"All Summer in a Day" tells the story of a group of children ostracizing and bullying a child
who doesn't fit in. Margot, who moved to Venus from Earth several years before, has real
memories of the sun, unlike her classmates who have seen only Venus constant rain. As
sunlight is the experience that the children on Venus cherish the most, Margot becomes a
scapegoat for the children's frustration and longing. Their jealousy of her experiences leads
them to a profound act of cruelty, which suggests that jealousy and deprivation, rather than
outright hatred, are the engines of bullying.
The children are jealous of Margot because, while they can only speculate about what
sunlight is like, Margot spent her early childhood on Earth. As the classroom prepares for
Venus' short period of sunlight, Margot writes a clever poem about the sun. Because only
Margot remembers the sun.
The children who inflict great harm on Margot do so not because they personally hate her,
but because of a very real sense of deprivation. Margot is unjustly tormented for having seen
the sun, but the children are also intensely aware that she has access to the Q.2 Describe the
theme of jealousy, bullying and thing that is most scarce and desirable to them. Ultimately,
the story shows that even extremely cruel bullying is driven by more complicated motives
than hatred alone.

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Q4. What effect does the absence and presence of the sun have on the children on planet
Venus?
In Ray Bradbury's story 'All Summer in a Day’, Children living on planet, Venus eagerly
await the cessation of rain and appearance of the sun, an event that only occurs once after
every seven years. The overwhelming rain on Venus has created a harsh, inhospitable
environment, suggesting a sense of displacement from the natural world on Earth. They are
all the victims of depression created on Venus due to the lack of sunlight for continuous
seven years. They have been traumatised by the constant rain. When there is no sun, they
seem dull and lethargic. Their anxiety to see the sun leads to a chaos. The children's teasing
of Margot quickly escalates to violent bullying. They grab Margot and push her into the
closet.
Finally, the sun comes out in the sudden roaring silence and stillness, flooding the sky and
jungle with radiant light. The children rush outside and throw off their jackets, revelling in
the warmth of the sun. It is far better than they even imagined it would be. They run, laugh
and yell, staring at the sun, and try to capture every joyful moment. The idyllic hour passes
all too quickly, the clouds sweep in, and the rain starts pelting. In a dull and sad mood, the
children return back to the underground classroom as the sky darkness and the torrential rain
recommences. It seems somehow louder and more painful to the children. Sombre feelings
take over them. They glance at each other, with guilt and shame as they suddenly remember
Margot. Slowly and shamefully, they move to the closet to free her. The experience of nature
brings a sudden sense of peace. The sun has an extremely pleasurable effect, and it seems to
physically and mentally revive the children. Absence of sunlight, had turned Venus into a
tangled and inhospitable wasteland. Similarly, the children too had become cruel and unruly,
when outside in the sun, they felt joyful and energised, highlighting the power of sun.
Q5. How was the scenario when the sun came out on the planet? Why was Margot
treated badly by the other children?
As soon as the sun came out on the planet, the storms subsided leading to a complete silence.
The dreary landscape was replaced by a tropical picture. Everything became still and the
silence was deafening. For the first time in their lives, the children were allowed to leave the
underground tunnels and come out into the waiting world. The doors were opened and the
children ran out removing their jackets and warming their faces and arms in the hot sun. They
relaxed on the growing plants and breathed in the fresh air. They ran and played and listened
to the silence. The huge sun was of a flaming bronze colour and it changed the dark skies into
light blue colour. The jungle too burned with the sunlight and the plants, though dark, looked
blooming as if in spring time.
Margot was not able to witness this phenomenon because the children had played a prank
upon her earlier. They had locked her in the closet just before the sun rose and forgotten
about her completely. Since the children had always treated Margot badly, they must have
felt ashamed. The only grounds of discrimination were because Margot had actually seen the
sun and the other children hadn't. Now, that they too had seen the sun, they must have
realised why Margot remained sad and cut off from them. They must have regretted locking
her in the closed and must have felt guilty that she alone had missed witnessing the sun. The
realisation that Margot had always been right and they had been wrongly mistreating her
must be very strong among them.