“All Summer in a Day”

“All Summer in a Day” By Ray Bradbury First published in 1959 Lesson developed by Andrea Shanafelt

Write About It: What makes “All Summer in a Day” a science fiction story? Record all of the scientific details on your worksheet.

Talk About It: Have you ever been jealous of one of your peers? How did these feelings make you act toward that person?

Talk About It: Have you ever known somebody who just didn’t fit in? Have you ever been that person? Why do you think this happens?

Write About It: Who is the protagonist of “All Summer in a Day”? Here’s a hint: The protagonist is the main character.

Getting to knowMargot Authors use a variety of techniques to develop their main characters: Description (including metaphors!) Dialogue and thoughts Actions Reactions

With A Partner: • Skim the story, looking for all the different ways that Bradbury characterizes Margot. • Use one color to underline descriptions • Use a second color to underline dialogue and thoughts • Use a third color to underline Margot’s actions • And, use a fourth color to underline how the other children react to Margot.

For Example “ Margot stood alone. She was 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.” Yellow = Margot’s actions Green = description

Now write five adjectives to describe Margot that ARE NOT USED in the story!

How do authors do that? • Authors often develop their characters through INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION. • This means that they SHOW us who the character is, rather than TELLING us.

The opposite of INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION is DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION • This is when the author explicitly tells us what the character is like.

With A Partner: • Find a place in the story where Bradbury uses DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION • Here’s a hint: This method is often used to describe a character’s appearance.

Talk About It: • Which method of characterization do you think is best? • Which method is most interesting to you as a reader? • Which method is most challenging for you as a writer?

Writing Practice: Choose one of the following sentences and change it from DIRECT to INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION: • Fred is nervous around women. • Janie is depressed about her parents’ divorce. • My brother loves to eat. • Stacy has a lot of confidence in her athletic ability.

For Example: • Fred is nervous around women. - OR - • Beads of sweat start to form on Fred’s temples whenever he talks to the pretty brunette teller at the bank, and often his hands shake so badly that he struggles to put his cash into his wallet.

Talk About It: • Why is characterization important to a story? • What message does Bradbury send with the story “All Summer in a Day?” (In other words, what is his THEME?) • How is Margot’s character an important part of the story’s theme?

Fun Facts • Ray Bradbury was born in 1920, and is still alive and writing today. • In 1950 he published The Martian Chronicles, which established his reputation as a science fiction writer. • In 1953 he published Fahrenheit 451, which is considered his masterpiece.

In his own words… “People call me a science fiction writer, but I don't think that's quite true. I think that I'm a magician who is capable of making things appear and disappear right in front of you and you don't know how it happened.” -from www.raybradbury.com

“All Summer in a Day”