Ray Bradbury’s short story “All Summer in a Day” is a work of science fiction set in an elementary school on the planet Venus, where colonists from earth have established underground settlements full of long tunnels. In these complexes they live their lives and raise their children. Unfortunately, on Venus, rain is constant. It falls without stop, 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.
On the day on which the story opens, the sun should be visible, at least according to the confident predictions of scientists. Most of the children in the school, all of whom are nine years old, have never seen the sun. They are too young to remember when it appeared seven years earlier. They have grown up in a gloomy, sunless world. However, one of them—a girl named Margot—has arrived from earth more recently and can vaguely recall how the sun appeared when she was there. She remembers its beauty and its warmth, and she misses it intensely. She tries to describe its appearance to others, and she even writes poems about it.
The other children, however, are skeptical about her testimony and even seem jealous or angry when she claims that she has actually seen the sun. They consider her aloof because she seems focused on memories of the summer and the sun. She has even come to detest the running water of the school showers, which she associates with the constant Venusian rain. The other children increasingly see Margot as different from themselves, and they especially hate her when they learn that her parents, fearful of the strong distress that Venusian life is causing their daughter, are planning to take her back to earth. One boy in particular seems especially hostile toward Margot. He treats her with contempt and even threatens her physically, thereby provoking the teacher’s strong disapproval.
On the day the sun is supposed to...
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