All Summer in a Day: Setting and Key Themes

All Summer in a Day: Setting and Key Themes

Setting

The story has a fictional setting the planet Venus. Most of the action of the story occurs inside a classroom. Bradbury creates a believable world complete with an underground city established by "rocket men and women" and a climate that is depressing.

Key Themes

Intolerance and jealousy

The main theme of the story is intolerance and jealousy. Margot, the protagonist in the story is bullied and teased for being different. She is the only child in the class who really remembers what the sun looks and feels like. The rest of the students do not attempt to understand why Margot remains aloof and depressed, and are insensitive towards her. They seem to be jealous of her knowledge about the sun and the fact that she might return to Earth.

In a way, Margot represents people who are silenced for deviating from social norms or popular opinions.

Mob mentality

The story can also be considered a criticism of the mob mentality that human beings often display. All the children follow the actions of a boy, William, and are unified in their mean and uncivil behaviour towards Margot. No one uses his or her judgement and takes a stand against William when he suggests putting Margot in a closet.

Environmental degradation

Though not a predominant theme, the story indirectly touches upon environmental degradation. The story does not specify why human beings had to leave Earth. But we do learn that human beings live on Venus despite the harsh weather. Furthermore, returning to Earth is described as something that would cause a loss of thousands of dollars to Margot's family. Based on these details, we can infer that Earth has become difficult to live on.

This is an eerie prediction of Earth's future given the fact that we can already observe the dangerous effects of climate change.