Theme

The main theme in “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury is bullying, which is caused by jealousy and envy. Interestingly enough, Ray Bradbury has chosen to explore this theme in the context of a future generation that has the chance to travel between planets as a consequence of evolution. Even there, in the fictional setting of Venus, after hundreds or thousands of years of human evolution, bullying is still present. This shows that, in Bradbury’s opinion, bullying others who are inferior is an element so deeply-rooted in human nature that it perpetuates across the centuries. A sub-theme of the short story is nostalgia and longing, which is illustrated by both Margot and her classmates.

Bullying

Generally, bullying means the use of force or verbal threats with the purpose of intimidating others and make them obey or feel inferior. Physical bullying is rarely common among adults; for them, bullying takes the form of verbal attacks – whose meaning is more or less hidden – and it is most of the times used in the workplace. Physical bullying is more dangerous when it comes to children, something which is also noticeable in “All Summer in a Day”.

In the short story, bullying takes multiple forms. First of all, bullying is generated by envy; children are envious that Margot spent her first four years on Earth, seeing the sun. In this case, bullying takes the form of mockery:

"It's like a penny," she said once, eyes closed.
"No it's not!" the children cried.
"It's like a fire," she said, "in the stove."
"You're lying, you don't remember!" cried the children. (p. 3, ll. 16-19)

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Nostalgia and longing

This theme is mostly illustrated by the character of Margot, although the collective character of the classmates can also be analyzed from this perspective. First, note that Margot is nostalgic about her years spent on Earth and that she longs to see the sun that she has enjoyed for such a long time. For her, nostalgia is so great that she begins to change physically, to look like “an old photograph dusted from an album” (p. 2, l. 26). This is why her parents probably agree with bringing the girl back to Earth to see a change in her.

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