All Summer in a Day

by

Ray Bradbury

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Margot Character Analysis

Margot, the protagonist of “All Summer in a Day,” is a nine-year-old girl who moved from Ohio to the planet Venus when she was four years old. Margot longs intensely for the sun, which she remembers vividly from her time on Earth. Without the sun, Margot has become withdrawn, pale, and somber, eschewing the company of other children and thinking only of summertime. Margot’s classmates treat her coldly or with jealousy, because they have hardly experienced the sun at all and will likely remain on Venus for the rest of their lives, while Margot may be lucky enough to return to Earth. On the much-anticipated single day of summer, Margot becomes a scapegoat for the other children’s longing and deprivation: they lock her in a closet so she won’t be able to see the sun, which is the experience she most craves.

Margot Quotes in All Summer in a Day

The All Summer in a Day quotes below are all either spoken by Margot or refer to Margot. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Jealousy, Bullying, and Isolation Theme Icon
).
All Summer in a Day Quotes

Sometimes, at night, she heard them stir, in remembrance, and she knew they were dreaming and remembering gold or a yellow crayon or a coin large enough to buy the world with. She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands. But then they always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests, and their dreams were gone.

Related Characters: Margot, Children
Related Symbols: The Sun
Page Number: 89
Explanation and Analysis:

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. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.

Related Characters: Margot
Related Symbols: The Sun
Page Number: 89
Explanation and Analysis:

They edged away from her, they would not look at her. She felt them go away. And this was because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels of the underground city. If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow. When the class sang songs about happiness and life and games her lips barely moved. Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows. And then, of course, the biggest crime of all was that she had come here only 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. And they, they had been on Venus all their lives, and they had been only two years old when last the sun came out and had long since forgotten the color and heat of it and the way it really was.

Related Characters: Margot, Children
Related Symbols: The Sun
Page Number: 89-90
Explanation and Analysis:

Then, for the first time, she turned and looked at him. And what she was waiting for was in her eyes. "Well, don’t wait around here!" cried the boy savagely. "You won’t see nothing!" Her lips moved.

Related Characters: William (speaker), Margot, Children
Related Symbols: The Sun
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:

"Margot." They stood as if someone had driven them, like so many stakes, into the floor. They looked at each other and then looked away. They glanced out at the world that was raining now and raining and raining steadily. They could not meet each other’s glances. Their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their hands and feet, their faces down. "Margot."

Related Characters: Margot, Children
Page Number: 93
Explanation and Analysis:
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Margot Quotes in All Summer in a Day

The All Summer in a Day quotes below are all either spoken by Margot or refer to Margot. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Jealousy, Bullying, and Isolation Theme Icon
).
All Summer in a Day Quotes

Sometimes, at night, she heard them stir, in remembrance, and she knew they were dreaming and remembering gold or a yellow crayon or a coin large enough to buy the world with. She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands. But then they always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests, and their dreams were gone.

Related Characters: Margot, Children
Related Symbols: The Sun
Page Number: 89
Explanation and Analysis:

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. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.

Related Characters: Margot
Related Symbols: The Sun
Page Number: 89
Explanation and Analysis:

They edged away from her, they would not look at her. She felt them go away. And this was because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels of the underground city. If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow. When the class sang songs about happiness and life and games her lips barely moved. Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows. And then, of course, the biggest crime of all was that she had come here only 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. And they, they had been on Venus all their lives, and they had been only two years old when last the sun came out and had long since forgotten the color and heat of it and the way it really was.

Related Characters: Margot, Children
Related Symbols: The Sun
Page Number: 89-90
Explanation and Analysis:

Then, for the first time, she turned and looked at him. And what she was waiting for was in her eyes. "Well, don’t wait around here!" cried the boy savagely. "You won’t see nothing!" Her lips moved.

Related Characters: William (speaker), Margot, Children
Related Symbols: The Sun
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:

"Margot." They stood as if someone had driven them, like so many stakes, into the floor. They looked at each other and then looked away. They glanced out at the world that was raining now and raining and raining steadily. They could not meet each other’s glances. Their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their hands and feet, their faces down. "Margot."

Related Characters: Margot, Children
Page Number: 93
Explanation and Analysis: