All Summer in a Day

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"All Summer in a Day"
Author	Ray Bradbury
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction
Published in	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Media type	Magazine
Publication date	1954

"All Summer in a Day" is a short story by science fiction author Ray Bradbury. This story was originally published in the March 1954 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.^[1]

The story is about a group of frolicking nine-year-old schoolchildren residing on cold, wet Venus, which was colonized by "rocket men and women who had come to a raining world to set up civilization and live out their lives" in the future. The thick atmosphere of Venus still exists at this time, and it is constantly raining. Therefore, seeing the sun is a very rare event, occurring only every seven years for just one hour.

Margot is a little girl who moved to Venus from Earth five years before the story takes place. She is described as "a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years, and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes, and the red from her mouth, and the yellow from her hair. An old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away; and if she spoke at all, her voice would be a ghost." She fondly remembers the sun and the way it looked and felt. She does not play much with the other children in the underground city where they live. She is an outcast because of her sensitivity and the fact that it is rumored that she may return to Earth next year.

The kids are jealous of Margot because she remembers the sun from her time on earth. They were only two years old when it was last visible from Venus and do not remember it. She almost has a nervous breakdown because she gets so sick of living with the relentless rain. For example, once when she was supposed to take a shower at school in the locker room, she refused to get wet. She clutched her hands over her head and screamed that the water must not touch her head.

Margot writes a poem about the sun:

"I think the sun is a flower,

That blooms for just one hour."

She also describes it as "a penny". The other children do not believe that she wrote it, and say the Sun is like a "fire in the stove." The class bully, William, starts to harass her physically and verbally. While the teacher is out of the room, he convinces the other children to lock Margot in the closet.

The teacher finally comes back. The sun is actually about to come out after seven years of rain, and the teacher takes the children outside to experience it. They finally see the blazing sun in the blue sky. In their astonishment and joy, they all forget about Margot. They run and play in the warm fresh air until the one hour is up.

All at once, a girl starts to cry because she feels a raindrop in her hand. She sadly realizes the rain is returning. The thunder sounds, and the children run back inside. Suddenly, one of the children remembers Margot, still locked in the closet. They stand frozen realizing what they have done. The children walk slowly towards the closet and let Margot out. The precious sun has come and gone, leaving Margot still pale in gloom and darkness.

In this short story, it is shown how Margot's individuality makes her peers jealous. However, they eventually feel guilty when they realize what they did was wrong. This story also teaches its readers about the vicious qualities of discrimination by showing the unfair way Margot was treated.

A short film version of this story was made for television in 1982. In the movie, Margot has one friend and is never emotionally distraught. There is an expanded ending in which the children atone for their horrible act by giving Margot all the flowers they picked while the sun was out.