Compare And Contrast Shadow And Bone And All Summer In A Day

Everyone has deeply desired to have something before, but some people take their desires to far and quickly become blind to how they affect everything and anyone else. Both the novel Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, and the short story “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury, use this thought in both of their stories. In Shadow and Bone, the Darkling has forever been forced to serve under King’s that weren’t worthy of his time. In “All Summer in a Day”, the children of Venus long to see the Sun again. In both Shadow and Bone and “All Summer in a Day”, the authors reveal how a desire that one has can quickly change a character for the worst, making them forget about what they do and how their actions are affecting other people.
A similar theme

in Shadow and Bone and “All Summer in a Day” is that a desire can blind a persons judgment which makes the character do crazy and inexplicable things. This is shown in Shadow and Bone when the Darkling reveals that he will expand the Fold, a mass of darkness that harbors man-eating winged beasts called volcra, which in turn, will kill the people near the Folds edges. In the quote, “ He [The Darkling] has served countless kings, faked countless deaths, bided his time, waiting for you. Once he takes control of the Fold, no one will be able to stand against him.”, it shows how the Darkling is willing to do whatever it takes, no matter how long it takes, to get what he desires. In this case, he wants absolute power and will only achieve that by expanding the deadly Fold. The author uses the repetition of the word “countless” and the slowing down of a sentence by placing multiple commas to create a suspenseful atmosphere. This helps to prove how insane the Darkling is when the reader realizes just how long he has been plotting to overthrow the King and doing it by any means necessary. Similarly, in Bradbury’s book, the children all desire to see the Sun, but more than anything, they want to make Margot feel the pain of the absence of the Sun just as they have. Because of this, they lock Margot in a closet during the duration of the time that the Sun comes up and try to make her believe that the thought of the Sun appearing was all just a big joke. This quote “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,” shows how they were willing to do anything to achieve their goal of keeping Margot away from the Sun. The use of a run-on sentence accentuates the fact of how short and quick the process seemed to everyone since there was no break or time to think about their actions. By doing this, the author supports the idea that a desire can blind someone's judgment since the children were so consumed by the idea of Margot not seeing the Sun.
Even though both stories show how desires for something can lead to the characters committing terrible actions, both stories go about in a different way, and both show the differences of how the characters learn from their actions.

In Bradbury’s story, he shows how after the kids lock Margot in the closet, they immediately feel remorse for what they had done. In the quote, “They could not meet each other’s glances. Their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their hands and feet, their faces down, ” it shows how the children realize the magnitude of their actions and see the error of their ways. The author uses short, choppy sentences to get the feeling of the children's regret across to the reader. By doing this, it creates an atmosphere of guilt around the children which plays up to their feelings of remorse. They feel bad for what they have done, so although what they did was terrible, they have learned from their mistakes. Now, this can’t be said for the Darking though. After he tries to go through with his plan and kills hundreds of people, the reader realizes that he doesn’t feel remorseful but in fact looks at his actions as a way of getting the ultimate recognition for his power. In the quote, “I could hear the anguished cries of those lost in the dark, the shrieks of the volcra, the sounds of rifle fire...The village of Novokribisk was gone...The message was clear: Today it had been West Ravka. Tomorrow, the Darkling could just as easily push the Fold north to Fjerda or south to the Shu Han,” it explains the Darklings reasoning for why he chose to expand the Fold. Not because he wanted to use it, but because he wanted to show everybody that he was in charge now and that nobody could go against him and win. The author uses descriptive language such as “anguished cries” and “Shriek of the volcra” to allow the reader to imagine the scene more clearly and to fully understand the magnitude of the Darklings actions. It uses darker words to promote a

darker atmosphere of the situation. Also, by doing this, the author shows just how much the Darkling is unaffected and unapologetic for his actions. Although most people would be horrified if they had done what he had done, the Darkling seems to bask in the feeling of fear and power which pushes the idea that he doesn’t care how he goes along with his plans or who gets hurt in the process. This is completely different from how the children from “All Summer in a Day” had handled the reality of their jealousy since they had felt remorseful for their actions whereas the Darkling was indifferent to the hundreds of lives that he had taken.
In both Shadow and Bone and “All Summer in a Day”, Bardugo and Bradbury both show how a desire for something can lead to clouded judgment and harm to other people. A conclusion that can be drawn from these texts is that it doesn’t take much to make people desire something, but it does take a conscience to realize when you are in the wrong, like the children of Venus for example. Everybody has the choice to make good decisions, but it’s up to them if they want to act on that impulse. Nobody is born bad, but is it really so hard to slip away from being good?