All Summer in a Day

Study Guide

Literary Devices

Setting

Save

Literary Devices Setting

“All Summer in a Day” was written in 1950 at a time when scientists knew very little about the planet Venus. Humans would not travel to outer space until 1961, and a spacecraft did not explore Venus at relatively close range until 1962. Therefore, the setting for this story is the Venus of Ray Bradbury’s imagination. Bradbury would have known that Venus’s atmosphere was dense and from there imagined the menacing and storm-ravaged setting for his short story. Indeed, the setting is an integral part of the events of the story. For one, the setting contributes to the tone of alienation, danger, and foreboding. In addition, the rains are so intense and the vegetation so wild and unfamiliar that the setting itself becomes a kind of antagonist. Bradbury’s tale reads almost like a horror story at times. Venus is the evil monster which lurks just beyond the glass. The resulting stress and anxiety have a detrimental effect on psyches of the characters. The motivations for their actions are tied directly to their environment. Finally, the characters’ foreknowledge of a change in their surroundings, when the rains will stop and the sun will appear briefly, creates anticipation and suspense.

Previous section Figurative Language