All Summer In A Day

QUEATIONS:-
Q1) What does the beginning of the story imply ?

Q2) Why do you think the children are compared to roses and weeds?

Q3) How does the writer describe rain in the story? What is the implication of this?

Q4) How was Margot different from the other children? How were her experiences different from
others?

Q5) What reaction did Margot receive from the children?

Q6) Why do you think the children were so excited at the idea of going out in the sun?

Q7) Describe the relationship between Margot and the other children- using appropriate words.

Q8) Do you think Margot was happy in Venus? Support your answer.

Q9) What was Margot’s ‘ biggest crime’? Why was it a ‘crime’ in the eyes of the other children?

Q10) How does Margot describe the sun? Is her description justified? Why do you think so?

Q11) Why did Margot refuse to shower in the school shower room?

Q12) How did the children treat her before the teacher arrived? How would describe Margot’s
classmates?

Q13) How did the children react once they were out in the sun?

Q14) Why do you think the children are compared to ‘animals’?

Q15) What change came over the children after they witnessed and experienced the sunlight?

Q16) Is there a distinct difference in Margot’s classmates at the end of the story? Why do you think so?

The story begins with an eager, excited bunch of children , conjecturing about a natural phenomenon-
the sun. Only-in this case it is not “natural”, for they reside in Venus and have been witnessing incessant
rain for seven years.

Though they are innocent and beautiful, like roses, their spontaneity is restricted by the rain. They were
the children of the “rocket” men and women who had come to Venus to set up a new civilization.
Unfortunately, the children seemed to be trapped in a depressing, monotonous and predictable world.

Margot is an exception in the class. Her silence and her memories make her different and a target of bad
behavior and bullying. She is the one who remembers the sun in all its glory and warmth. Although very
young, she has a quiet dignity and maturity that is unusual and intolerable for her peers.
She is strangely assertive about her experience of the sun and her queer description of the sun as a
‘penny’ and a “fire in the stove” enrages the children who already seem frustrated by her memories.

She is physically frail, but her memories of the sun and the sky seems to make her resilient enough to
bear the disgust and contempt of her classmates. She is stripped off happiness and spontaneity because
she is away from Earth… and sky… and the sun. Despite her own agony she is empathetic enough to
understand the frustration and discomfort of the other children.

The children are jealous of her, because they realize that the sun must be glorious and beautiful. They
are envious of a possibility of going back to Earth . They want to prove her wrong and react viciously to
everything that she says. Their feverish expectation of the arrival of the sun and their impatience make
them volatile and they unleash their cruelty on Margot. She is thrown and locked inside the cupboard.

But then the rain stops and the sun shines brightly. The children bask joyously in its warmth and enjoy
the glory. Once it ends, they are filled with remorse about their behavior and they guiltily hurry to let
her out.

Dominant theme: jealousy-of children who are deprived of spontaneity and a natural existence.

Glossary:

incessant- continuous , without break.

Assertive- self assured and confident

Volatile-tense and angry

Remorse- guilt

Bask-relaxed and pleasurable feeling of warmth.