Analysis Of Ray Bradbury's All Summer In A Day

Ray Bradbury’s All Summer In A Day teaches readers that folk can be so cruel to someone who has experienced something they have not. Not only kids, but people in general can make up anything to deny the fact that that person has enjoyed something they haven’t. This idea is presented throughout the story.

In the story, a classroom of kids are living on Venus, where all it does is rain. The children cannot remember a time where there wasn’t nonstop downpour of rain. One child, Margot, who transferred to Venus from Earth has seen the sun. The children don’t believe she has seen the sun, because jealousy brings them to deny Margot’s words. The kids obviously don’t have control over the sun and rain. That is why the presence of the sun every

seven years is so anticipated. Meeting someone who has already seen the sun and halt of rain doesn’t help the kids look forward to it less. All it does is direct envy and resentment to Margot.
While some readers may argue that bullying is the central theme of the short story, they forget that bullying only occurs a couple times throughout the story. While evidence for this theme is present, bullying and hatred is only a side-effect of jealousy. The kids only bully Margot because they are jealous by the fact that she has seen the sun and they haven’t. Locking Margot in the closet the day the sun came out was influenced by the feeling of jealousy. The kids didn’t want her to see it for a second time when they would only have seen it once so far.
Additionally, jealousy blinded the children. When they locked Margot in the closet, it didn’t come to mind that she’d have to wait another seven years to see the sun again. Envy brought the kids to act cruelly towards Margot. The minors hated everything about Margot. It didn’t help when word was going around that her parents were thinking of taking her back to Earth, where the sun shines daily. They hated that she supposedly knew everything about the sun, and had the children thinking the sun would shine that day when it looked like it wasn’t going to.
In conclusion, Ray Bradbury’s All Summer In A Day teaches readers that jealousy can bring others to do things they never would have. Anticipating something you have no control over can lead to poor decisions.