Familiar Human Relationships in the Fantastic Settings Essay (Book Review)

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Bradbury is objectively one of the masters in demonstrating complex human relationships in Sci-Fi settings. His characters’ worlds are fantastical, as the reader can only imagine living in these places in the distant future. However, they feel familiar, like a colony on Venus in Bradbury’s All Summer in a Day. This familiarity is due to the characters’ relationships, behaviors, views, and psychology. The audience can subconsciously relate to the experiences while staying interested in the unique world. The reader also does not feel immediately confronted by Bradbury due to the sense of distance from the characters living in such unfamiliar worlds. However, they still ease into the idea and narrative presented by Bradbury. In other words, while Sci-Fi settings engage the reader’s fantasy and imagination, the relationships show familiar patterns, exploring deeper social issues. Despite the short length, Bradbury’s work, All Summer in a Day, follows the same pattern as other works.

Despite the fantastical element, the reader can still relate to the characters’ experiences. The setting of the story is the futuristic civilization on Venus. The main character Margot is a nine-year-old boy at the school. The story is set on the day of the sun’s appearance, as it appears on Venus only for two hours each seven years. As Margot recently came to Venus from Earth, she knows of the sun’s appearance and qualities, unlike other young children. She describes the sun to other children, relaying this information, “It’s like a penny” (Tench et al., 2012, p. 16). However, the kids do not believe this information and lock her in the closet. When the sun comes out, they realize that Margot told the truth. They rush to her, but it is too late. She will not see the sun again for seven years. Despite the unfamiliar settings and issues, the children’s behavior remains familiar. The reader can imagine being in Margot’s situation or recall a similar experience.

The relationships between Margot and other children can be viewed through the different lenses of human interactions. The first lens is the relationships between the victim and bullies at school. In this case, Margot is the victim, and the other kids are bullies. They display all the characteristics of the children’s cruelty and lack of knowledge about the world. First, in the children’s naivety, they are unaware of the solar phenomenon. Second, they perform an act of cruelty without consideration and awareness of it by locking Margot in the closet. Feeling these connections, the readers call to reminisce about their experiences and relate to the piece.

Another layer of the meaning is these relationships’ similarity to the larger social issues. In this case, Margot can be compared to a seer who speaks the truth about something that the rest of society cannot predict or see. The other children are this society that cruelly punishes any divergent thoughts. This way, the act of punishment can resemble that of Galileo Galilei being almost burned at the stake for his accurate model of the universe. Bradbury shows how society can be extremely ignorant of the truth to the point of dismissal and punishment of others. However, Bradbury puts a positive spin on the story, with the children realizing the truth. He describes the change in their appearance by the sun from the gloomy and colorless to the yellow of their hair, blue of their eyes, and red of their lips. It demonstrates their collective realization of truth. On the other hand, Margot’s inability to see the sun also symbolizes her sacrifices for speaking the truth. It is similar to Galilei being forced to renounce his views of humanity and imprisoned for life, with the world later realizing his correctness.

Overall, Bradbury’s work, All Summer in a Day, follows his pattern of showing the deeper meaning with the combination of the Sci-Fi setting’s uniqueness and familiar themes in social relations. Sci-Fi elements draw the reader in, keeping them interested while not directly referencing any controversial historical events not to dismay the reader. Meanwhile, Bradbury expresses his ideas and narratives on larger social issues.

Reference

Tench, J., Jiménez Jorge, & Bradbury, R. (2012). All Summer in a day. Scholastic Inc.

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