Bradbury was, at heart, a Romantic in the Wordsworthian sense, who believed that we need fresh air and open countryside and a close relationship with nature, and his stories are full of warnings about what can go wrong when human beings come to depend too much on technology and are deprived of this bond with the natural world and the open air. The constant rainstorms on Venus have deprived the children of this experience. The implication of this ending, then, is that the sun – and, by extension, being able to go out among nature and appreciate it – is good for us as human beings. But when they return from their brief time among the sunshine, they appear to be filled with remorse for depriving her of the opportunity to share in the experience by locking her in the closet. Before the sun appears, they are sullen and irritable, and clearly resent Margot because she can remember what the sun looks and feels like. One of the things which can take us by surprise upon reading the story is the swift change of character in the children, especially their ringleader, William. The symbolism of ‘All Summer in a Day’ is subtle, but, like the sun in the story and its effects on the children, goes to work on us as readers in ways which we may not fully realise.
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