Abstract Thinking in All Summer in a Day, a Short Story by Ray Bradbury

The children in “All summer in a day” the children live on Venus. They only see the sun once every 7 years. Even after they wait for so long they only see it for 2 hours. Ray Bradbury used a lot of figurative language in his short story to encourage abstract thinking. Abstract thinking is the ability to think about objects, principles, and ideas that are not physically present. It is related to symbolic thinking, which uses the substitution of a symbol for an object or idea. Figurative language creates pictures in the mind of the reader. These figures help convey meaning and understanding faster and more vividly than words alone. Abstract thinking is the ability to think about objects, principles, and ideas that are not physically present. It is related to symbolic thinking, which uses the substitution of a symbol for an object or idea. Using metaphors is an example of something that we do every day to constitute abstract thinking. Bradbury uses metaphors to reinforce themes in his story. When the story begins; the children are compared to roses and weeds. It shows that they may not be all super innocent and sweet like most 9 year olds are seen. Similarly, he conveys the beauty the sun holds for children who experience it only once every seven years by using bright metaphors. Bradbury also uses imagery to create a mental image of the characters and setting. We get a detailed picture of Margot and why the children disliked her so much. “Her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness”  “a nest of octopi, clustering up great arms of flesh like weed, wavering, flowering in this brief spring”. When reading this you get a mental picture of what the jungle looks like and we get an extremely clear picture of what our protagonist Margot looks like. Ray Bradbury reflects the intense joy of seeing the sun through many similes. The children describe their few memories of the sun as “a coin large enough to buy the world with” or even “a yellow crayon” and “like a lemon it was”. The sun is never associated with anything negative at all. Because the children see the sun so little that they compare it with everything good and wonderful that they do have. In the short story “All Summer in a Day” lots of figurative language is used to get the reader to think and use their imagination. He uses Metaphors to establish the themes of the story. He also uses imagery to paint a mental image of the main characters and the setting as well. He lastly uses similes to show us how the 9 year olds think, and how they recall their vague memories of the sun.