All Summer in a Day RTC

Question 1.
“Ready?”
“Ready”
“Now?”
“Soon.”
“Do the scientists really know? Will it happen today, will it?”
“Look, look; see for yourself.” The children pressed to each other like
so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at
the hidden sun.
It rained.

(a) Where is the story ‘All Summer in A Day ’ set ? Why did the
children living on the planet Venus seem to be happy ?
Answer:
The story ‘All Summer in A Day’ is set on the planet where the sun
shines for only one hour once every seven years. The children were
happy because they had heard from the scientists that the sun was
going to appear for a short period.

(b) Why were the characters sent on the planet Venus ? Who came
later on Venus and when ?
Answer:
The characters were sent on the planet Venus to set up civilization
and live out their lives. It was Margot who had come on Venus five
years ago from Earth.
(c) How has the writer depicted the planet Venus ? How do we come
to know that the story belongs to the genre of science fiction ?
Answer:
The writer has depicted the planet Venus, as a place where it rains
constantly and the sun emerges once every seven years and that too
for one hour. The story falls into the genre of science fiction and we
come to know this from the constant reference to scientists and their
forecasts regarding the sun.

(d) Why were the children unable to remember about the sun ?
Answer:
All the children were nine years old. It means that the children would
have been only two years old the last time when the rain stopped
and the sun appeared seven years ago, hence the children were too
small to remember how it looked and how it made them feel.

(e) What do the following lines ‘Do the scientists really know ? Will it
happen today, will it ?’ Show ?
Answer:
These lines show that the children had doubts about the prediction
of the scientists. They could not easily believe that the sun was going
to appear after a very long time of seven years. They thought that
the scientists could be wrong in making prediction.

(f) The story opens with the question ‘Ready ?’ What were the
characters getting ready for ?
Answer:
The characters were getting ready to see the sun which was about
appear
on Venus after a very long interval of seven years. The children living
on the planet Venus seemed to be very excited to get a glimpse of
the sun and feel it.

Question 2.
It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of
days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain,
with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of
showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal
waves come over the islands. A thousand forests had been crushed
under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again.
And this was the way life was forever on the planet Venus, and this
was the schoolroom of the children of the rocket men and women
who had come to a raining world to set up civilization and live out
their lives.

(a) What is setting of the story ? Describe the main idea of the story.
Answer:
The setting of the story is in the future on Venus in an elementary
school where astronauts have raised their children. The main idea of
the story is that life can be tough and it is not always fair.

(b) When did the sun appear last on the planet Venus ? Why could
the children not preserve the memories of the sun?
Answer:
When the sun last emerged, all the children were just two years old.
As they were very little when the sun shone seven years ago, it was
difficult for them to preserve the memories of the sun. Hence they
remembered nothing about the sun.

(c) How long had it been raining on the planet Venus ? What was the
effect of the rain on the forests.
Answer:
It had been raining on the planet Venus for seven years. Several
forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand
times to be crushed again.

(d) How did most of the children feel about the weather on Venus ?
Answer:
Most of the children had accustomed to the constant rainy weather
on Venus. They liked the rain because they could not remember ever
seeing the sun. Margot thought they remembered the sun only in
their dreams.

(e) What were the children doing as ‘All Summer in a Day’ was going
to begin ? What do the details in the passage given below tell you
about the writer’s purpose ?
‘It had been raining for seven year; thousands upon thousands of
days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain,
with the drawn and gush of water.
Answer:
The children were peering out a window. In the passage given above,
the writer wishes to create a mood. He wants the reader to be able
to imagine the consequence of such event upon the characters
within the story.

(f) What is the central conflict of the story ‘All Summer in A Day’ ?
Answer:
The main conflict is between Margot and her classmates on planet
Venus. Her classmates resent her because they know that she was on
Earth for a longer time, than they were; therefore she can remember
the sun’s character better than they can.

Question 3.
“It’s stopping, it’s stopping!”
“Yes, yes!”
Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could ever
remember a time when there wasn’t rain and rain and rain. They
were all nine years old, and if there had been a day, seven years ago,
when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the
stunned world, they could not recall.

(a) What does the story *All Summer in A Day’ introduce?

Answer:
The story introduces a group of children living on Venus which is
dominated by rainfall and the absence of the sun. In the story, Venus
only receives sunlight for one hour every seven years.

(b) Who are the protagonist and antagonist of the story and why ?
Answer:
The protagonist is Margot because she has a conflict that needs to be
solved. William is the antagonist because he caused the conflict.

(c) What was the momentous occasion ? Who were waiting for this
occasion ?
Answer:
The momentous occasion was that the sun was going to appear in
the sky for a brief period i.e., for one hour after seven years. A group
of nine years old children was eagerly waiting for this occasion.

(d) How many times had the children seen the sun ?
Answer:
The children had only seen the sun once in their lives when they
were two years old, but now they did not remember how it looked or
felt.

(e) Why was Margot standing apart ?

Answer:
Margot was standing apart from other children and showed no
interest to mingle and interact with them because the grey
atmosphere of the planet Venus left great impact of her.

(f) Why had the other children forgotten about the sun ?
Answer:
The other children had been on Venus all their lives and they had
been only two years old when last the sun came out for an hour. So
they had forgotten colour and heat of the sun.
Question 4.
Margot stood alone. 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. Now she
stood, separate, staring at the rain and the loud wet world beyond
the huge glass.
“What’ re you looking at?” said William.
Margot said nothing.
“Speak when you’re spoken to.”
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. And this was
because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels
of the underground city. If they tagged her and ran, she stood
blinking after them and did not follow.

(a) Who was Margot ? Why did she have memories of the sun ?
Answer:
Margot was one of the children who lived on the planet Venus. She
was different from the other children because she had lived in Ohio
until she was five. So she had memories of the sun.

(b) How did the children make preparations for the coming summer ?
Answer:
In preparation for the coming summer, the class had spent the
previous day studying the sun and writing about it. They had written
small stories or essays or poems about it.

(c) Why was Margot totally misfit on Venus ?

Answer:
Margot had come to the planet Venus just five years ago, from earth.
She was totally a misfit on Venus. She could not adapt herself to the
conditions on Venus where it had been raining continuously for
seven years, without the appearance of the sun.

(d) What continued to fascinate Margot ? Why did she not like to
participate in any classroom activity ?
Answer:
Margot had many memories of the sun and the sun continued to
fascinate her. She did not like to participate in any classroom activity
that did not include the sun because she had been in a depressed
state on Venus.

(e) What was the impact of constant rain on Margot’s physical

appearance ?
Answer:
The constant rain made its first impact on Margot’s physical
appearance. It seemed as if the rains had washed out the red colour
from her face, the blue colour of her eye and the golden colour of
her hair.
(f) How did Margot look like ? Give two instances of metaphor from
the above extract ?
Answer:
Margot looked like a faded, whitened photograph from an old
album. She looked pale and sick like a ghost. Margot’s appearance
and voice has been described after years of relentless rain and
devoid of sunlight as :

‘She was an old photograph dusted from an album ’

‘ if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.’
Question 5.
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, and she remembered the sun
and the way the sun was and the sky was when she was four in Ohio.
And they, they had been on Venus all their lives, and they had been
only two years old when last the sun came out and had long since
forgotten the colour and heat of it and the way it really was. But
Margot remembered.
“It’s like a penny,” she said once, eyes closed.
“No, it’s not!” the children cried.
“It’s like a fire,”she said, “in the stove.”
‘You’re lying, you don’t remember!” cried the children.

(a) What is fantastical element in the story ?

Answer:
The children’s living on Venus is fantastical element, because we do
not know much about Venus but we do not believe at this time that
it can sustain human life. In this story, not only do people live on
Venus, but also it rains all the time there. The idea of raining on a
planet for seven years is a fantastical element.

(b) How were Margot’s mental feelings affected by rains ?

Answer:
The rains affected Margot mentally. They gave her lonely feelings.
She liked to live in an isolated state. She never mingled with the
children. She neither played games with them nor sang songs of
happiness.

(c) Why had the children forgotten the colour and heat of the sun ?
Answer:
The children had forgotten the colour and heat of the sun because
when
last the sun came out, they were only two years old.

(d) Whose biggest crime is being talked about ? Why is it considered

as a crime ?
Answer:
Margot’s biggest crime is being talked about. It was considered as a
crime because Margot had come to live on Venus only five years ago
from earth and she remembered the sun and the things related to
the sun.
(e) How does Margot compare the sun ? Why did the children accuse
Margot ?
Answer:
Margot compares the sun’s roundness and ‘flaming bronze’ to a
‘penny’, and its warmth to ‘a fire in the stove’. The children accused
her of lying when she told them that the sun is round like a penny
and hot like a fire.

(f) When did Margot sing along with the other children ?
Answer:
When the children sang songs about happiness and life and games,
her lips barely moved, but when they sang about the sun and
summer, she sang along with them.

Question 6.
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. So after that, dimly, dimly, she sensed it, she was
different and they knew her difference and kept away. There was
talk that her father and mother were taking her back to Earth next
year; it seemed vital to her that they do so, though it would mean
the loss of thousands of dollars to her family. And so, the children
hated her for all these reasons of big and little consequence. They
hated her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness, and her
possible future.
(a) Why did the other children resent Margot ?
Answer:
The other children resented her because she played no games with
them in the tunnels of the underground city. If they tagged her and
ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow.

(b) How old was Margot when she moved to Venus ? How did the
other children feel about Margot ?
Answer:
When Margot moved to Venus, she was four years old. The other
children hated her because of her pale face, her constant silence, her
thinness and because she wanted to go back to Earth next year.

(c) What did Margot remember and why ?

Answer:
Margot remembered the sun because she had spent four years of
her life on the Earth. She knew very well how its colour was and how
one could feel in its presence and what impacts could be seen in the
atmosphere.

(d) What were all the children waiting for as they stood around the
window ? What was Margot doing ?
Answer:
As the children stood around the class window, all they were
curiously waiting for the sun which was about to appear on the
planet Venus for a brief time. Margot was also waiting for the sun
patiently as she too was eager to set a glimpse of the sun.

(e) For what does the word ‘vital’ stand ? Why does the writer use
the word ‘vital’ here ?
Answer:
The word ‘vital’ stands for being necessary to the existence,
continuence or well being of something and of critical importance.
The word ‘vital’ has been used to describe the importance of her
parents’ sending Margot back to Earth and it means it is necessary to
Margot.

(f) What does the ‘shower’ serve to remind Margot ? Why does she
rebel against it ?
Answer:
The shower only serves to remind Margot of the endless rain which
she thoroughly tired of. She wanted to be dry, not wet. She wanted
to bask the sun. She did not want to remain under the tyranny of a
constant downpour, so she rebels against the shower. To her, the
shower symbolises the constant rain she hates.

Question 7.
“Get away!” The boy gave her another push. “What’re you waiting
for?” Then, for the first time, she turned and looked at him. And
what she was waiting for was in her eyes.
“Well, don’t wait around here!” cried the boy savagely. “You won’t
see anything!”
Her lips moved.
“Nothing!” he cried. “It was all a joke, wasn’t it?” He turned to the
other children.
“Nothing’s happening today. Is it?”
They all blinked at him and then, understanding, laughed and shook
their heads.
“Nothing, nothing!”
“Oh, but,”Margot whispered, her eyes helpless. “But this is the day,
the scientists predict, they say, they know, the sun…”

(a) What is the symbolical significance of the sun for Margot ?

Answer:
For Margot, the sun is a reminder of her happy days on Earth before
her family has relocated to Venus. It reminds her of the hope for the
future that she and her parents will one day return to Earth.

(b) What did the children claim and how did they treat with her ?
Answer:
Margot knew better than any of the children what the sun was like
because her family came to Venus from Ohio only five years ago. But
the children claimed that she could not remember the sun and
treated the quiet, reserved little girl very cruelly.

(c) Why did, the children resent her ? Why were they angry and
jealous of her ?
Answer:
The children resented her for her past experiences on Earth with the
sun and they were also angry and jealous of her because she had the
opportunity to travel back to Earth regardless of the financial costs.

(d) What does Margot’s initial exclusion from the group show ?
Answer:
Margot’s initial exclusion from the group speaks to the difficulties of
integrating immigrants into a community. Margot struggles to fit in
everyday of her time on Venus and she does not get along with the
other children.

(e) Who gave Margot another push and why ? How did Margot react
at the boy’s rude behaviour ?
Answer:
A boy named Willian who seemed to be very cruel to Margot gave
her another push. He did this act out of anger and jealousy for
Margot. For the first time Margot turned and looked at him.

(f) Why did Margot’s eyes show when she looked at the boy ? Why
did the boy say ‘you won’t see anything !’ ?
Answer:
When Margot looked at the boy, it was clearly visible in her eyes that
she was eagerly waiting for the sun’s appearance. She also seemed
to be very confident and patient while waiting for the sun’s
appearance. The boy said that she would not see anything and her
waiting for the sun’s appearance would be meaningless for her
because the children had already planned to play a trick upon her as
they did not want to let her see the glimpse of the sun.
Question 8.
“All a joke!” said the boy, and seized her roughly. “Hey, everyone,
let’s put her in a closet before the teacher comes!”
“No, ” said Margot, falling back.
They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and
then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet,
where they slammed and locked the door. They stood looking at the
door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself
against it. They heard her muffled cries. Then, smiling, they turned
and went out and back down the tunnel, just as the teacher arrived.

(a) What did the boy say to dishearten her ? How did the other
children react it ?
Answer:
The boy told her that it was all a joke and the sun was not going to
appear that day. The other children also followed the boy. They
showed their agreement with the boy and laughed at her.

(b) Why did Margot seem to be confident about the appearance of

the sun ?
Answer:
Margot seemed to be confident about the appearance of the sun
because she firmly believed in the prediction of the scientists. She
knew well that the scientists could not be wrong as they predicted
after scientific observation.
(c) What did Margot respond when the children were teasing her ?
Why did Margot’s classmates feel jealous of her ?
Answer:
Margot said nothing, but she only whispered. She seemed to be
helpless before the children who were very harsh and cruel towards
her. Margot’s classmates felt jealous of Margot because she lived on
the Earth and had seen the sun for a longer amount of time than her
classmates. Morever she remembered what the sun was like.

(d) Who were the partners of William in the crime of locking Margot
in the closet and how ?
Answer:
As William was the leader of the children, the children did the same
they were asked to do. He convinced them to lock Margot in the
closet. The children became partners in crime with William and
forcibly locked Margot in the closet and thus prevented her from
seeing and feeling the sun.

(e) How did Margot resist the children when they were taking her to
lock in the closet ?
Answer:
When Margot was being taken to the closet by the children, she
protested, pleaded and cried, but it was all in vain as they had
crushed the humanity and morality under their feet and had grown
stem and cruel against her.

(f) How did all the children react after locking Margot in the closet ?
Answer:
After locking Margot in the closet, all the children stood looking at
the door and saw it trumble from her beating and throwing herself
against it. They heard the muffled cries of Margot. Then they smiled
at their inhuman act and turned and went out.

Question 9.
“Ready, children1?” She glanced at her watch.
“Yes!” said everyone.
“Are we all here?” “Yes!”
The rain slacked still more.
They crowded to the huge door.
The rain stopped.
It was as if, in the midst of a film concerning an avalanche, a tornado,
a hurricane, a volcanic eruption, something had, first, gone wrong
with the sound apparatus, thus muffling and finally cutting off all
noise, all of the blasts and repercussions and thunders, and then,
second, ripped the film from the projector and inserted in its place a
beautiful tropical slide which did not move or tremor. The world
ground to a standstill. The silence was so immense and unbelievable
that you felt your ears had been stuffed or you had lost your hearing
altogether. The children put their hands to their ears. They stood
apart. The door slid back and the smell of the silent, waiting world
came in to them.

(a) What tends to cause conflict and resentment and why ? Explain it
clearly in the light of story.
Answer:
Variations in people, lives and backgrounds tend to cause conflict
and resentment due to lack of understanding. Margot migrated on
the planet Venus from the Earth. On the Earth she lived in a
atmosphere which was entirely different to that of Venus, hence she
could not develop a mutual
understanding with those children who were born and brought up on
the planet Venus.

(b) What made the children act audaciously against Margot ? What
hateful act did they commit and why ?
Answer:
The children’s jealous feelings towards Margot overrode their moral
decisions and made them act audaciously. In order to deprive her of
seeing the sun’s appearance, they made an aggressive attack on
Margot and forcibly locked her in a closet.

(c) What happened as the rain stopped ?

Answer:
As the rain stopped, an immense peace could be felt in the whole
atmosphere of the planet Venus. It seemed as if in the midst of a film
concerning an avalanche, a tornado, hurricane, a volcanic erruption,
something had gone wrong with the sound apparatus and ripped the
film from the projector and inserted in its place a beautiful tropical
slide.

(d) Why did the teacher look at her watch ? What did she ask the
children ? Where did the children gather ?
Answer:
The teacher looked at her watch because the time was approaching
when the sun was about to appear. She asked the children if they
were ready. The children gathered to the huge door.

(e) How did the children feel for sometime when rain stopped.
Answer:
When the rain stopped, the children felt an immense and
unbelievable silence. They felt as if their ears had been stuffed with
something or they had lost their hearing capacity completely.

(f) What did the children do when they felt extreme silence ? What
came before them as the door slid back ?
Answer:
When the children felt extreme silence, they put their hands to their
ears. As the door slid back, a picture of silent and waiting world came
to them. In fact the sun had appeared.

Question 10.
The sun came out.
It was the color of flaming bronze and it was very large. And the sky
around it was a blazing blue tile color. And the jungle burned with
sunlight as the children, released from their spell, rushed out, yelling
into the springtime.
“Now, don’t go too far,” called the teacher after them. “You’ve only
two hours, you know. You wouldn’t want to get caught out!”
But they were running and turning their faces up to the sky and
feeling the sun on their cheeks like a warm iron; they wore taking off
their jackets and letting the sun burn their arms.

(a) Why did the children seem to be very eager to see the sun ?
Answer:
The sun appeared in every seven years on the planet Venus. So when
the children were two years old, the sun appeared, but they did not
have any recollections of that day. So when they heard about the
prediction of the sun’s appearing, they seemed to be very eager to
see and know about the sun.

(b) What caused the conflict between Margot and the other
children ?
Answer:
Margot remembered the sun and other children didn’t. The other
children were angry because she had a memory that they didn’t.
Margot kept to herself because nobody liked her. It caused the
children to bully her into the closet.

(c) How did the children react after the sun came out ? What warning
did the teacher give to the children ?
Answer:
As the children were released with the appearance of the sun, they
rushed out yelling into the spring time. The teacher warned the
children not to go too far as they had only two hours.
(d) What games did the children play ? What did most of the children
do?
Answer:
The children ran among the trees. They slipped and fell. They pushed
each other. They played hide and seek and tag, but most of all they
quinted at the sun until the tears ran down their faces; they put their
hands to that yellowness and that amazing blueness and they
breathed of the fresh air and listened to the silence which suspended
them in a blessed sea of no sound and no motion.

(e) Do you think that the children paid any heed to the teacher ?
Answer:
It seems that the children were so much overwhelmed with joyous
feelings at the sight of the sunshine that they did not pay any heed
to their teacher’s warning but became wholly engrossed in their
games and activities.

(f) How did the sun look like ? How did the appearance of the sun
leave its impact on the sky and the ground ?
Answer:
The sun looked like a flaming bronze. It seemed to be very large.
With its appearance, the sky around it was a blazing blue tile colour.
The warmth or heat of the sun could be felt on the ground. The
jungle seemed to be burning with the sunlight.

Question 11.
And then -In the midst of their running one of the girls wailed.
Everyone stopped.
The girl, standing in the open, held out her hand.
“Oh, look, look,” she said, trembling.
They came slowly to look at her opened palm.
In the center of it, cupped and huge, was a single raindrop. She
began to cry, looking at it. They glanced quietly at the sun.
“Oh. Oh.”
A few cold drops fell on their noses and their cheeks and their
mouths. The sun faded behind a stir of mist. A wind blew cold around
them. They turned and started to walk back toward the underground
house, their hands at their sides, their smiles vanishing away. A
boom of thunder startled them and like leaves before a new
hurricane, they tumbled upon each other and ran. Lightning struck
ten miles away, five miles away, a mile, a half mile. The sky darkened
into midnight in a flash.

(a) How much time did the children spend ? When did they stop
running ? What did the girl show them ?
Answer:
The children had been running and enjoying for an hour and they did
not stop running until one of the girls wailed. The girl showed them a
single drop of the rain at her palm.

(b) What reaction did the children make on hearing the cry of one of
the girls ? What did the children see in her hand ?
Answer:
On hearing the cry of one of the girls, the children stopped running.
They turned to the girl who was standing in the open with her
stretched hand. The children came to her and saw a single rain drop
at her opened palm.

(c) Why did the children look quietly at the sun ?

Answer:
The children looked quietly at the sun because it seemed to them
that the sun was going to vanish behind the clouds and the violent
storms and rains were about to approach soon.

(d) Where did the children start to move and in what mood ?
Answer:
The children’s smiles had vanished away. They felt greatly dejected
and disappointed at the disappearance of the sun. With heavy
hearts, they turned and started to walk back towards the
underground house.

(e) What happened a little later when the children had seen the drop
of rain ?
Answer:
A little later when the children had seen the drop of rain, they felt
that a few cold drops fell on their noses, cheeks and mouths and a
cold wind blew around them.

(f) How was the sky changed ? Why did the children stop in the
doorway ?
Answer:
The sky darkened into midnight in a flash. The children stopped in
the doorway of the underground as they seemed to be reluctant to
go inside until it rained heavily.

Question 12.
“She’s still in the closet where we locked her.” “Margot.”
They stood as if someone had driven them, like so many stakes, into
the floor. They looked at each other and then looked away. They
glanced out at the world that was raining now and raining and
raining steadily. They could not meet each other’s glances. Their
faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their hands and feet,
their faces down. “Margot.”
One of the girls said, “Well…’?”
No one moved.
“Go on,” whispered the girl.

(a) Why did the children tumble upon each other and run ? What
type of sound did they hear ?
Answer:
As the children were startled by a boom of thunder, they tumbled
upon each other and ran. They heard the gigantic sound of the rain
falling in tons and avalanches, everywhere.

(b) Why did the children look at each other ? Where was Margot ?
Answer:
The children looked at each other because they wanted to know
whatever they had done with Margot was right or wrong. Margot
was still locked in the closet.

(c) Why were the children’s faces solemn and pale ?

Answer:
The children were so much overburdened with the feeling of guilty
that their faces had grown solemn and pale. The expressions of their
faces clearly showed that they had nothing to say about their
unpardonable deed.

(d) How were the feelings of the children changed when they set free
Margot from the closet ?
Answer:
When they released Margot from the closet, they had known that
Margot was true to her words about the sun. They had also known
how beautiful and warm the sun is. This made them remorseful
about locking her in the closet.

(e) What do the words ‘Go on’, whispered the girl, signify.
Answer:
All the children were so much ashamed that they had no courage to
move on to the closet, but the girl who was also involved in this
immoral deed, whispered that they should proceed to release
Margot from the closet.
(f) Why did the other children lock Margot in the closet ? In what
mood did the children return ?
Answer:
The other children locked Margot in the closet because they
despised her. They did not like her as she had the recollections of the
sun but they did not have. The children returned remorsefully to let
Margot out of the closet.

(g) When do the people begin to feel detach themselves ? What is

the significance of jealously ?
Answer:
When differing backgrounds cause turmoil, people begin to feel
detach themselves from one another. Jealousy can sometimes
override morality. The children’s jealous feelings towards Margot
overrode their moral decisions and made them act audaciously.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
How do the other students feel about Margot in the story ‘All
Summer in A Day ’ ?
Answer:
The story takes place in some future time where earthlings have
somehow managed to travel to other planets and colonize them.
One of these colonies is on Venus. Bradbury’s vision of Venus is a
planet where it rains constantly. The incessant rain really gets to
people. It is particularly hard for the children because they do not
remember seeing the sun. They were too young when it last
appeared for one hour.

Margot is nine years old girl. She is different from the other children
because she is from the Earth. On Earth, apparently, the sun still
comes out. Margot desperately misses the sun. She wants to go back
to Earth in the worst way. Not only does Margot miss the sun, but
she does not get along with the other children. They are jealous of
her and think she is weird because she keeps herself apart from
them. She does not fit in and does not try to. Whenever Margot is
mentioned, she is described as being alone and apart from the other
kids.

‘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.’

The children feel excited because the sun is about to appear for the
first time in seven years. This means that the other children were just
two years old when it last emerged, and of course they don’t
remember it. For this reason, they are even more stirred up. Just as
the sun is about to come out, they decide to play a trick on Margot.
They lock her in the closet.

Question 2.
Why was Margot unhappy on Venus ? Why did the children dislike
Margot ? What inferences can you make about Margot’s feelings as
she comes out of the closet at the end of the story ?
Answer:
The Reason of Margot’s Unhappiness and Children’s Disliking Her :
Margot was unhappy on Venus because she remembered the sun
from when she was four and lived on earth. Children disliked Margot
because she told them that the sun was going to come out after
seven years of straight raining and they thought she was lying. We
know this because the boy from her class talks to Margot and says,
‘It was all a joke wasn’t it V He turned to the other children.

‘Nothings happening today. Is it ?’ Another reason why children

disliked her was because she might be going back to earth. There
was a talk that her father and her mother were taking her back to
earth next year. And so the children hated her for all these reasons
of big and little consequence. They hated her pale snow face, her
waiting silence, her thinness and her possible future.

Inferences about Margot’s Feelings : We can infer that Margot felt

frustrated towards her classmates when she got out of the closet
because she was the only one who believed the sun was coming out
on that day and was the only who did not see it. We know this when
Margot talks to the boy: ‘But this is
the day, the scientists predict, they say, they know, the sun ’ At this
the boy said that it was all a joke and seized her roughly. He called
the other children and asked them to let her put in a closet before
the teacher came. She was trying to explain to her classmates that
the sun would come out but they thought she was lying. This might
make her angry and aggressive when she was taken out of the closet.
Question 3.
How does Ray Bradbury develop the mood in ‘All Summer in a Day’?
Answer:
The Use of Leitmotif : Ray Bradbury creates a leitmotif that expresses
repeatedly the idea of rain with recurring phrases; this repetition
generates the major atmospheric effect, or mood, of his story. It is an
oppressive mood of grey anxiety and cynicism. Here is an example of
the use of leithmotif:
‘It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of
days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain,
with drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers
and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come
over the island. ’

The Effect of Unceasing Rain on Nature and Children: The monotony

of this ever-present rain that has killed forests and flowers and any
vegetation is rather overpowering. The effect of the grey atmosphere
and unceasing rain is reflected in the children’s behaviour as well.
They bully the one girl who has come from Ohio and seen the sun
and remembered it. To the other children she has committed ‘the
biggest crime of all’. So, in their envy and cynical doubt of Margot’s
truth about the sun, the children lock her in a closet, causing Margot
great anxiety.

Margot’s Suffering from Oppression and Anxiety : In her

imprisonment, Margot suffers her worst oppression and anxiety as
she is denied the vision of a sunny sky, a vision for which she has
long been anxious; she has always remembered and yearned for it.
She is also prohibited from the added satisfaction of erasing the
cynicism that looms over her from other children who are skeptical
of her description of the sun. Certainly, too, the behaviour of these
other children underscores the narrator’s tone of cynicism with
regard to human nature.

Question 4.
In ‘All Summer in A Day’, what are Margot’s strengths and
weaknesses ?
Answer:
Margot’s Strengths: Margot’s strength is in her sensitivity and her
ability to be true to herself. She remembers a better world on Earth
where the sun often shines. She seems to be strong in her dislike of
Venus, where the sun only comes out once every seven years. She
shows integrity in her loyalty to earth. She reveals her artistic
sensitivity when she writes a poem about the sun : I think the sun is a
flower, I that blooms for just one hour. ’ One of the boys in the class
protests that she couldn’t have written that.

Because she is true to herself, she tries to communicate her

memories of the sun to the other children, comparing it to a fire in
the stove and a penny. As she is non conformist, she does not join
the other children in their games. She does not pretend to like things
she doesn’t like.

Margot’s Weakness : As with the most people, her strengths are also
her weaknesses. Her integrity being true to herself—includes a lack
of social skills : she doesn’t seem to realise how much she is
alienating the other children and acting as if she is superior for
having seen the sun.

Her sensitivity is also a weakness : it means she writes nice poetry

and has vivid and poetic memories of the sun, but it also leads her to
scream as she does not want to take a shower. It causes her parents
to think leaving Venus early, despite the money they would lose.

Question 5.
What is the resolution to Ray Bradbury’s ‘All Summer in A Day’?
Answer:
The resolution of a story comes right after the climax. After the
climax when the outcome of the conflict is revealed, the resolution
usually shows how the characters move forward or react afterward.
For Rqy Bradbury’s ‘All Summer in A Day’, the conflict is person vs.
society as one little girl is bullied by her classmates because she has
seen the sun before and they haven’t. At first, the conflict revolves
around Margot and William. Margot believes the sun will shine that
day as the scientists predict; however, William, dispenses negativity
and doubt in the classroom. All of the children want to see the
sunshine because they have never experienced it—or at least they
don’t remember it. Margot probably wants to see it shine more
because she misses it.

When the children shove Margot into a closet before the sun shines,
the reader wonders if she will escape in time to enjoy the rays of the
sun. This may be that someone will remember Margot in the closet
and free her in time to play in the sun. Unfortunately the climax of
the story comes when the clouds cover up the sun again and a little
girl remembers her and screams, ‘Margot!’ It is at this point that
everyone knows Margot’s fate and that she won’t be able to see the
sun that day or for another seven years. The resolution, then, is
when the class goes back into the building to free Margot from the
closet after the sun goes away. The text seems to suggest that the
children know they have done something wrong to Margot because
it says the following :

‘They walked slowly down the hall in the sound of the cold rain They
walked over to the closet door slowly and stood by it. Behind the
closet door was only silence. They unlocked the door, even more
slowly and let Margot out.’

The fact that the children proceed very slowly when freeing Margot
suggests they know what they did is wrong. They are not happy,
joyful, skipping, or shouting because of a fun day in the sun. The
moment is diminished because of their hateful actions towards a
classmate. Therefore, the resolution is that Margot is freed, but she
does not yet to enjoy the sun; sadly, the children recognise that they
did something they can never take back, change or rectify.

Question 6.
In the story ‘All Summer in A Day9, how is the sun described ?
Answer:
In the story, the people who live on Venus only see the sun for an
hour once every seven years. The story revolves around a class of
nine-year-old children who were bom on Venus and cannot
remember what the sun looks or feels like. Margot however, who
was born on Earth, remembers the sun vividly. Margot’s perspective
provides many figurs of speech and descriptions about the sun. For
example, Margot recalls the following about the sun :

‘About how like a lemon it was and how hot………………… ‘I the sun is
a flower ………. It’s like a penny’, she said once, eyes closed …………….
It’s like a fire’, she said, in the stove.’

In the above passage, there are three similies and one metaphor that
Bradbury uses to describe the sun through Margot’s eyes. First, the
similes compare the sun to a lemon, a penny and a fire in the stove.
Then a metaphor compares the sun to a flower. These comparisons
are based on Margot’s perspective and on things that she would
know or relate to in her child-like mind. Lemons, pennies, flowers,
and fires are all possibly connected to her life’s experiences;
therefore, it is from these experiences that she is likely to retrieve
information to describe the sun. None of the other classmates
understand her, though, because they do not share similar
experiences with the sun. She could only think to herself the
following :

‘She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a

blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling
hands.’

When the sun finally comes out and the children are released to go
outside to experience it, the sun is described using personification as
follows :
‘………………. When the sun came out for an house and showed its
face to the stunned world It was the colour of flaming bronze and it
was very large. And the sky around it was a blazing blue tile colour.’

It is interesting that other visual images through colours are

observed when the sun comes out: ‘flaming bronze’ and ‘blazing
blue’. The children’s reactions also bring out colourful descriptions of
the sky as follows :

‘…………. they put their hands up to that yellowness and that amazing
blueness and they breathed of the fresh, fresh air………….’

Therefore, Bradbury uses similes, metaphors, personification and

visual images of colour to describe the sun and its effects on
characters in the story.

Question 7.
In the story ‘All Summer in A Day9 what happens while Margot is in
the closet ?
Answer:
Ray Bradbury’s story is set in the future, when people live on Venus.
There it rains constantly; the sun only emerges once every seven
years. Since the children are nine years old, they have no memory of
the sun. Because Margot has moved to Venus from Earth, she
remembers what the sun looks like and how it feels warm on the
flesh and ‘like a blushing’ on the face and how it looks ‘like a penny’.
She stands apart from the others and does not wish to play their
games with them in the underground tunnels of the city, which are
artificially lighted. It is because she does not play with the others and
because she never sings unless the song is about the sun that the
other children hate her for ‘these reasons of big and little
consequence.’

When one cruel boy sees in Margot’s eyes that she eagerly waits for
the hour of the sun, he tells her ‘It’s all a joke!’ but she insists that
this day is the one which the scientists have determined that the sun
will emerge.

All a joke!’ said the boy, and seized her roughly. ‘Hey, everyone, let’s
put her in a closet before the teacher comes!’ ‘No’, said Margot,
falling back.

The cruel children push Margot into a closet, watching as she throws
herself against the door desperately. They smile as they turn and go
back down into the tunnel before the teacher arrives. When the sun
comes out, the children are ecstatic; they squint at the sun and they
remove their jackets to feel the rays upon their arms. They put their
hands up to that yellowness and that amazing bluness and they
breathe of the fresh air and listen to the silence which suspends
them in a blessed sea of no sound and no motion.

And then it is over. A raindrop falls in one girl’s hand. Then, another
girl utters a faint cry: ‘Margot.’ Margot, whose greatest desire was to
again see and feel the sun, has been in the closet all the time.

Question 8.
How did the geography of Venus change when the sun came out ?
Answer:
‘All Summer in A Day’ is a short science fiction story. The story
introduces a group of children living on Venus which is dominated by
rainfall and the absence of the sun. In the story, Venus only received
sunlight for two hours every seven years (not scientifically accurate).
In the beginning of the story, Bradbury introduces the planet’s
weather and geography :

‘It had been raining for seven years ; thousands upon thousands of
days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain,
with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of
showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal
waves come over the islands. A thousand forests had been crushed
under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again.’

In the story, most children aged about nine had only experienced life
on Venus, but some people remembered the environment of earth.
Margot, a transferred student, remembered the sunlight she
experienced on Earth. Her experience, which differed from that of
her peers, opened her up to criticism from her friend. In fact,
Margot’s experience depicts how important geography is to
Bradury’s story for its ability to drive social interactions :

‘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 then she was four in Ohio. ’
The story built to a moment in which the children were finally able to
experience the sun. Bradbury took this opportunity to further
describe the grography of Venus:

‘They stopped running and stood in the great jungle that covered
Venus, that grew and never stopped growing, tumultuously, even as
you watched it. It was a nest ofoctopi, clustering up great arms of
flesh like weed, wavering, flowering in this brief spring. It was the
colour of rubber and ash, this jungle, from the many years without
sun. It was the colour stones and white cheeses and ink and it was
the colour of the moon.

By the end of the story, the sun had disappeared again after showing
its glimpse for a brief time. Although the geography itself did not
change in the story, it played a central role for the characters.