All Summer In A Day Marginalization

The theme of prejudice is thoroughly examined through out the short story "Mary Moon and the stars". This hard hitting theme conveys the idea that young adults have to make tough decisions even before hitting their adolescent years. These decisions are mostly based on the judgments they choose to make on the people surrounding them. The narrator

The two short stories that we read in this unit, “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury ,and “Examination Day” by Henry Slesar, both have meanings of their societies. In “All Summer In A Day” the main character, Margot lives on Venus and gets bullied by the other kids on Venus because she has seen the sun back on Earth while they only saw it when they were babies. On the only day where the sun goes out Margot gets shoved into a closet while the kids that bullied her get to go enjoy the sun for the first time in 7 years. In “Examination Day” the main character, Dickie, gets killed because his intelligence quotient is above the amount the Government wants it to be. Both of their societies are highly sophisticated but, they are very different

Oftentimes, in the public, people have to be “normal” to be successful and accepted. Author William Saroyan believes that society steers people to be conformed and fit in, but he wants people to be able to be diverse. In the short story “Gaston,” Saroyan shows that carving a unique path can turn out to be erroneous. Through symbolism and contrast, Saroyan conveys the theme that society does not always accept people’s differences.

It does not let her feels and looks so stupid. After Heather joins in the Marthas, she blows Melinda off and Melinda is outcast again. The students hit Melinda in the hall; the girls' bully her at the pep rally all shows Melinda is an outcast, she is unwelcome. Melinda is a coward. "The kids behind me laugh so loud I know they're laughing at me. I can't help myself '' (Anderson 4). Melinda is a timid person. She scareds to tell the truth of that night, thus her friends cannot understand her difficulties. About the event happen at the party, she chooses to escape her past and become silent. Melinda does not talk a lot, either at school or at home to her parents. She acts like she does not care and hid from everyone. When someone bullies her, she just ignores them and suppresses her true feelings. Melinda is also a negative person. '' It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie'' (Anderson 9). From this quotation, it is evident to see Melinda is negative. Her thinking is negative and

Miss Brill and Sandra are both alienated by their community, but they do not seem to do much about it. Sandra seems to be isolating others instead of the other way around. During her own party, she “[refuses] to allow [people] into her kitchen”. She believes other people are strange and avoids them. Miss Brill also goes through a similar experience. She goes to a park because she “always looked forward to [listening] to [other] conversation”. She is lonely

The feeling of being judged for the experiences an individual faces can be detrimental to the person 's personality by that these experiences result in you trying to become someone you are not so that you hide what society feels is your flaw, your race. Starr lives in two completely separate worlds, Garden Heights and the area surrounding Williamson High School. These two worlds hinders Starr’s ability to voice her opinions and thoughts about anything because in both of these areas there is this fear of overstepping boundaries. Overstepping boundaries in either area causes an individual to become threatened, for example, in Garden Heights, Starr silences herself whenever she is around gang members because she is frightened that the gang members will harm both her and her family for her opinions. Starr silences herself when she is at Williamson High School, especially since she is one out of the few African Americans that attends there, because her opinion is outnumbered by the majority of the population who are either ignorant about the issues that affects Starr’s race or cares less to even hear issues that occurs to others beside them.

From the beginning of the novel to the end of the novel, Margot didn’t change who she is. Margot moved to Venus from Earth at an older age than the rest of her classmates. She still remembered the sun; the other students didn’t because they moved to Venus when they were very young. “Margot stood apart from them, these children who could never remember a time when there wasn’t rain and rain and rain.”(Bradbury 1). This quote showed that Margot remembered a better time when there was sun and there wasn’t always rain. Margot didn't try to fit in; she always acted by what felt right, not how others thought she should act. Margot never talked and if she did, she was very quiet. Margot also didn’t play games or sing songs with her classmates. As a result of Margot’s differences, her classmates stayed away from her. They made fun of her. “...she sensed it, she was different, and they knew her difference and kept away.”(Bradbury 2). This quote proved that even Margot knew she was different, Margot also knew her classmates thought of her as weird; but she never stopped being herself, she never changed who she was. Margot realized she didn’t want to change her identity, and she shouldn’t have to, to fit

Melinda refuses to speak up about an event that occurred in her life; therefore her classmates cannot show empathy towards her. She never speaks up for herself, so her friends can’t understand what she is feeling and going through. “Her eyes meet mine for a second. ‘I hate you,’ Rachel mouths silently.” (page 5). Melinda never spoke up about the event that occurred, and because her friends never asked about what did happen, she cannot build up the courage to explain. “I don’t want to be cool. I want to grab her by the neck and shake her and scream at her to stop treating me like dirt. She didn’t even bother to find out the truth---what kind of a

Not only did they exclude her but they also hater her for her differences, for the absence of colour on “…her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness and her possible future.” They acted on this hate and “…put her in a closet…” and caused her to miss the sun coming out. They excluded her from all the fun they had in the sun but more than that, they made her miss the event she had been looking forward to since she came to this planet five years ago. By showing us this, Ray Bradbury successfully explains to us how Margot is different from the rest of the children in the way she acts and because of this difference she is ostracised and hated.

The short story, “Degrees of Understanding”, by Robert Heilman describes the prejudice Douglas County citizens face on a day to day basis. One way the author manages to convey this, is when he had to correct an educated woman because she didn’t understand that art isn’t something you learn, by saying, “‘Just because you’re a poet or a dancer or a sculptor, that doesn’t mean that you appreciate beauty any more than a logger or a field hand does,’”(Heilman, 209). Another way his story accomplished this was when he thought about the conversation he had just had, thinking, “Elitism is a sign of ignorance, an ignorance which is the result of the blinding effects of prejudice, refined and cultured prejudice certainly, but prejudice, none the less.” (Heilman, p. 110.) These statements make the reader think about Douglas County as a culture in which they too, have been prejudiced towards.

One example of this topic, is “he gave her a shove.” This shows this because the children did not like her because she was different so one of the boys shoved her. A second example of this is “They edged away from her, they would not look at her. She felt them go away.” This shows the theme because the children thought she was different and didn't like that so they bullied her which is not okay. A third example of this is when

    Margot gets treated cruelly by those in her class because they are envious of where she’s from and her knowledge, or experience. Margot is nine years old, living on the planet Venus, where she moved from Earth, when she was four years old. Margot is the only kid in her class the remembers the sun and this makes all the other kids envious of her because when the other kids saw the sun they were only two years old but Margot was four which makes them  jealous. When Margot was talking about the scientist predicting the sun would come out one of the boys said, “‘All a joke… let’s put her in a closet before the teacher comes back!’” (Bradbury 3). The  kids are so envious or jealous of Margot that they want to lock her in a closet, right before the sun is supposed to come out because they don’t believe it is. When the sun finally came out  the children rush outside to enjoy nature and the sun,

One of the several results of the children’s jealousy towards Margot is her becoming isolated. “So after that, dimly, dimly, she sensed it, she was different and they knew her difference and kept away.” (Bradbury, 1954). The author uses repetition, particularly the repetition of the word “dimly”, to indicate that Margot was unaware of how different she was from the other children. After she rejects the shower though, she finally begins to understand why the children keep their distance from her. On the other hand, the children did try to include her in their games, but due to her depression, Margot withdraws herself from them. Ironically, the children themselves are acting this way because they are also isolated from others. From what can be seen in the story, the children sleep in the same room, and do not speak often with others. So when they can leave their proverbial prison, they jump at the opportunity. Bradbury writes, “Then wildly, like animals escaped from their caves, they ran and ran in shouting circles.” (Bradbury, 1954). The children’s isolation causes them to express their rage at Margot in unique forms. Meanwhile, Margot becomes depressed from her long seclusion from her classmates.

Margot is marked as an outcast for something she’s not responsible for. “...the biggest crime of all was that she had only come here five years ago from Earth, and she remembered the sun and the way the sun was and the sky was when she was four in Ohio.” This proves that Margot is being marked as an outcast because the usage of dreary words such as crime and only project how lowly the other children think of her.

Bullying is a significant idea in the short story as Grace communicates the loss of confidence and the harm suffered by a victim. Mareana had a huge loss of confidence. She was so scared that she avoids walking to l the way the girls walk. She