All Summer in a Day: Question and Answers

All Summer in a Day: Question and Answers

With reference to the lesson All Summer in a Day, answer the following questions.

Q1. The setting of the story both creates and resolves the conflict within the story. Explain.

The constant rain on Venus along with the lack of sunshine creates the main conflict within the story. Margot, a fragile girl, has a vivid memory of the sun while the other kids don't as they had lived on Venus all their lives. Margot had moved to Venus only five years earlier. It is Margot who remembers the sun, its warmth and its appearance. She compares it to other objects around her, like a flower, a penny, a fire in a stove, desperate to communicate what the sun looked and felt like. But her memory of the sun makes the other children angry and jealous. As a results, they end up locking her in a closet and completely forgetting her when the sun finally comes out.

However, later in the story, it is again within the grim setting of the story that the children realize their mistake and how much they regret their actions. They realize that Margot was telling them the truth and that because of them that she will now not be able to enjoy the sun for another seven years. After experiencing the sun themselves, they realize why Margot missed it so much. They would now probably be a bit kinder towards her as now even they understand how she feels.

Q2. What role does imagery play in the story 'All Summer in a Day'?

All Summer in a Day' is a science fiction story set in an unknown future on a planet that is alien to readers. In this context, the role of imagery is rather important. Ray Bradbury has successfully used a lot of imagery to create a believable environment and to give us a clear image of life on the planet.

There are several instances of the use of visual imagery. By using terms such as trees being the color of rubber and ash' and the landscape as 'the color of stones and white cheeses and ink, the reader is immediately transported to the new world. We are also able to imagine what Margot looks like when he compares her to an old photograph, and says that it was as if the rain had "washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair"

The author uses auditory imagery when he describes the sound of the falling rain as that of a tatting drum and like beads falling on the roof. We can also sense the silence that falls on the planet when the rain stops.

Bradbury also evokes the sense of touch when he describes how the sun felt like a warm iron to the children.

Q3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

"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.

i. Who are these children? Where are they?

The children are nine-year-olds who live on the planet Venus. They are the children of those who had arrived on the planet to set up a civilization. They are in their classroom peering intently out of the windows.

ii. What are they talking about? What is their mood like? Point our phrases/ sentences from this extract that reveal their mood.

 The children are talking about the scientists' prediction that the sun would come out that day.

The children were very excited and were eagerly awaiting the phenomenon. This is clear from the author's description that the children "pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds... peering out for a look"

iii. Why are they peering out?

It rained continuously on Venus and the sun came out only once in seven years. The children had no memory of the sun since they were only two the last time it shone. They were peering out because they would get to see the sun for the first time and were keen to know what it looked like.

iv. How has the author described the rainy weather of the place?

It rained continuously and heavily for seven years on Venus. Sometimes the storms would be so heavy that tidal waves would come over the islands. There was a continuous cycle of destruction and regeneration where entire forests would go under and then grow all over again.

v. Does the sun play an important role in the story? How?

Yes, the sun plays the central role in the story.

The story's protagonist, Margot, is the only one who remembered the sun. Thus, she could vividly recall its warmth and glow. As a result, she was miserable on Venus. The fact that she knew what the sun looked like also made her classmates jealous of her. Hence, she was always bullied by them, and on the day the sun finally shone, she was locked up in a closet by them.

Q4. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. Sometimes, at night, she heard them stir, in remembrance, and she knew they were dreaming and remembering gold or a yellow crayon or a coin large enough to buy the world with. 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.

i. Who is 'she'? How was 'she' different from 'them'?

 'She' here refers to Margot.

Margot had arrived on Venus only five years ago, while her classmates (them) had been there longer. She clearly remembered the sun and its warmth, and was very unhappy on Venus. Also, she did not join the other kids when they played different games.

ii. According to this passage, what would they dream about? What was reality like when they woke up?

The other children would dream of the sun and imagine it to be like gold or a yellow crayon or a large coin. But they had only faint memories of the sun.

But when they woke up it would always be raining very heavily making sounds like a tatting drum or like beads falling on the roof.

iii. How did she describe the sun in her poem? What was her classmate's reaction?

The day before it was supposed to rain the children had spent the day reading and

writing about the sun. Margot had described the sun as a flower that bloomed for just an hour.

Her classmate, William, refused to believe that she had written it herself and said so.

iv. What was the only time she joined them? What does this tell us about her? The only time Margot would join the other kids was when they sang about summer or the sun.

This clearly shows how much she missed the sun and how miserable she was on Venus.

v. Draw a brief character sketch of her.

Margot is described as a thin and pale-looking girl who looked much like an old photograph. It was as if the rain had washed away the colour of her eyes. hair and skin. She was a reserved person and did not sing and play with the other kids. She would not even retaliate when the others bullied her. She was quite clearly a misfit. Because she knew what the sun looked and felt like, she longed for it and was unhappy with her life on Venus.

Q5. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

"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.

i. Who was the boy? According to him what was a joke? 

The boy was William, one of Margot's classmates.

All children, including Margot, were looking out of the classroom windows since the scientists had predicted that the sun would come out that day, When William saw Margot waiting for the sun, he cruelly asked her to go away and said that the scientists' prediction was just a joke.

ii. What happened after the boy suggested putting Margot in a closet? 

The children immediately gathered around her, lifted her up and carried her down a tunnel to where the closet was. Margot protested and pleaded all the while. After they shoved her in the closet and locked her up, she kept banging the door and throwing herself against it. The children merely smiled at each other and walked back to their classroom.

iii. Why was the boy so aggressive with her? What stance did the other children take? 

William, just like the other children, was jealous of Margot's knowledge about the sun and the fact that she might return to Earth. He would always bully her and encouraged the rest of the children to do so too.

The other children followed William's example and joined in his cruel jokes and

mockery. Not one of them stood up against William.

iv. What happened after the teacher returned to class?

The teacher asked if everyone was present there and the children said yes. Then all of them crowded by the big door waiting for the rain to stop completely. As soon as the sun came out, they burst outside.

v. What was the consequence of Margot being inside the closet?

 Once the sun came out, the children completely forgot that Margot was inside the closet. They rushed out and played till the rain returned. Margot unfortunately missed her chance to be in the sun and would have to wait another seven years to experience the warmth that she so desperately yearned for.

Q6. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

"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!"

i. "You've only two hours" What was the teacher referring to? Why was it only for two hours?

The teacher here was referring to the amount of time the sun would be out.

They were all living on the planet Venus, where it rained continuously and the

sun shone once in seven years for two hours.

ii. Describe 'out

Out' on the planet Venus was nothing but a great dense jungle that grew unendingly even as one watched it. It looked like a nest of octopi with long weeds which flowered in the brief period of sunshine. Overall, the colour of the jungle was that of rubber and ash because of the lack of sunlight for long periods. The author also compares it to the colour of the moon, white cheese and ink.

iii. Why wouldn't they want to get caught out?

On Venus, the rain returned within two hours. It would change from a drizzle to a downpour in an instant, and thunder and lightning would start almost immediately. The children wouldn't want to be caught out in this situation and get drenched or find it difficult to return to the classroom.

iv. What happened after they went out?

As soon as the children went out, they completely forgot about Margot. They took off their jackets and began running, playing, screaming and tumbling around, and did not stop. More importantly, they soaked in the warmth of the sun, turning their heads towards it and putting their hands out. They also enjoyed the silence since the thunder had stopped as well. Thus, the children savoured every moment of sunshine.

v. Why did one of the girls let out a wail while they were out? What happened next?

The children were running around like wild animals and enjoying the sunshine, when all of a sudden one of the girls wailed. A fat raindrop had fallen into her hands signalling that the rain was about to resume.

Soon, all children felt raindrops. The sun faded behind a mist and a cold wind started blowing. Almost instantaneously there was thunder and lightning, and the sky darkened.

Q7. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

They turned through the doorway to the room in the sound of the storm and thunder, lightning on their faces, blue and terrible. They walked over to the closet door slowly and stood by it.

Behind the closet door was only silence.

i. What did the children realise once they were back inside? What was their immediate reaction?

It was only after they were back inside and the rain resumed that the children remembered Margot. They had completely forgotten that they had locked her in a closet.

They were all shocked and stood still as if someone had fixed them to the floor. They looked at each other and at the storm raging outside, realising the gravity

The children realised that they had made a grave error by robbing Margot of the chance to be in the sun. Also, they had realised that Margot was not lying about the sun. As a result, they were feeling guilty about their behaviour, and therefore, walked slowly.

iii What was significant about the silence behind the door?

The silence behind the door was very significant. It highlighted how Margot felt about being locked inside while the only chance for her to see the sun was stolen from her. Though she protested first and banged against the door, she gave up on realising that her chance was gone.

iv. Describe the mood of the story in these lines. How is it different from the mood earlier? 

The story takes a grim and more solemn mood in this part of the story. As readers, we can sense the feeling of guilt in the air.

This is in stark contrast to the mood earlier where the children were enjoying themselves and running around like wild animals.

v. Do you think they were justified in their actions? Why/Why not? No, the children were not justified in their actions. They acted purely like bullies.

Margot had not harmed the children in any way. She was merely different from them because she had spent more time on Earth and knew what was missing on Venus. She innocently shared her experiences with her classmates. The other children acted out of jealousy and envy.