Margot's Cruelty

uses a simile and a metaphor to describe Margot’s appearance, but also how she has been affected by being unable to look at the sun, and the cruelty of those around her. “She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for many years, and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all, her voice would become a ghost.” Even before Margot’s schoolmates forced her into a closet, her physical appearance showed that she was greatly changed by cruelty, and would not be able to regain her happiness. This piece of the story helps the reader understand Margot’s predicament, that the sun isn’t just something she …show more content…

Since they are both different genres of fiction, one is science fiction, the other is realistic fiction, the posses different qualities that change how cruelty is portrayed. Firstly, in “All Summer in a Day,” Ray Bradbury writes this on page 3 “They stood looking at the door and saw it tremble from her beating herself against it. They heard her muffled cries. Then, smiling, they turned and went back down the tunnel just as the teacher arrived.” The children clearly understand how cruel the are being to Margot; they saw her unsuccessful attempt to escape and heard her crying. However, they completely accept this, and are smiling as they walk away from her. This is thought - invoking paragraph because of how the children’s reaction to their own cruelty. Although the event takes place in a dystopian story, it is not that far off our own reality. There are numerous people all over the world who find cruelty to be enjoyable and entertaining when directed at someone who is not themselves. This scene is also interesting because of how each one of the children wanted to be a part of the cruel act. In everyday life, it would seem as if there would be some people in the group did not approve of attacking another for enjoyment. This is one of the reasons the children in the story were so inhumane. Hurting Margot was a normal occurrence that they were glad to participate …show more content…

Margot trusts in the sun to heal and renew her, but Hannah finds that she has nothing left to live for. For example, on page 2, Margot shows how she would be delighted to have the shine fall over her. “When the class sang songs about happiness and life and games her lips barely moved. Only when they sang songs about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows.” Through this passage, the reader gains an insight on how much cruelty has pushed Margot into this mindset; of trusting more in her idea of the sun than in happiness and life. The alliteration of the letter ‘s’ in these sentences bring to attention when Margot decides to participate in the class, just the sun, the summer. Since Margot joins the rest of the class in singing, she shows that she is perfectly capable singing, and just doesn’t want to because she doesn’t care about anything else. This is a contrast from what the reader knew of her character before this, because Margot was shown to never partake in anything, and just stay out of any action. This changes the reader’s perception of her interests, showing that she can follow along with her classmates, but cares to spend her thoughts waiting on seeing a shining light. Her mental investment in the sun makes the rest of the story even more upsetting, because the reader can infer that if Margot had been able to play under the sun like the others, she