ALL SUMMER IN A DAY: The Use of Descriptive Language

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE

ALL SUMMER IN A DAY

The Use of Descriptive Language

KAITLYN

     What do you think of when I say sun? I think of day, warmth, large, and bright yellow. Those things are taken for granted here on earth, so if you went to Venus, you wouldn’t know what to do.  In this heart-warming story, All Summer in a Day, the author Ray Bradbury used descriptive language to explain how the sun exposed everything to the warmth for the first time in seven years. Ray Bradbury includes the use of figures of speech, images, and specific language. By using these key points, he painted a vivid picture of how the children experienced the sun for the first time.
     First of all, the author uses figures of speech to create a scene that we could connect to. We have all been caught in the sunlight at one time, soaking it all in. As we jump for joy as the sun warms the earth after the winter, the children on Venus jump for joy as the sun comes out after the seven year long rain. The kids on Venus came out of their underground settlement, “when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the stunned world.” They felt “the sun on their cheeks like a warm iron,” and saw “the jungle burned with sunlight.” Ray Bradbury showed us how they saw the sun, felt the sun, and how they were amazed by the sun.
     Secondly, images made us view the sun in many lights. The usage of sight images let us imagine an actual huge ball of flaming light when “The sun came out. It was the color of flaming bronze and it was very large. And the sky around it was a blazing blue tile color.” This gives the reader an image of a wonderfully big yellow round ball in the sky that was accented off of a baby blue crayon. The kids let this big yellow ball of burning gas “burn their arms” and warm “their cheeks like a warm iron.” This gave me the memory of my first sunburn on my face and my shoulders, and how much pain it gave me afterwards, but gave me such joy while it warmed me. The image wording gave me the impression that we were alongside the children getting that sunburn and seeing the burning ball of gas.
     Thirdly, Ray Bradbury used specific language to drive the point through. The word choice efforts were icing on the cake in the story. The way Ray Bradbury told us about the children crazily running to play outside in the sunlight really spoke to me. The way they, “turned on themselves, like a feverish wheel, all tumbling spokes,” made me picture in my mind, the kids practically running over each other to try to be the first outside. Another example of this would be when the children were enjoying the forest floor and the author used the words “jungle mattress,” which made me relate to my soft bed at home. The kids heard the jungle floor, “sigh and squeak under them, resilient and alive.” All in all, the way Ray Bradbury incorporated specific language into All Summer in a Day, made the message even stronger to the reader. When you can picture what is happening, you can draw lessons from the story.
     Finally, the effectiveness of language use in All Summer in a Day, made the overall point stronger. Figures of speech showed us how the kids saw the sun, felt the sun, and how they were amazed by the sun. Images gave us a view of the sun in many lights, and gave us the actual feelings of how they experienced the sun, and specific language made the message even stronger to the reader. All in all, the descriptive language used in this story painted a complete storybook of fascinating pictures of how the children experienced the sun for the first time in seven years.

ADDITIONAL READING:

GEORGE D. SHUMAN: Author of “18 SECONDS” & “LAST BREATH” Part 1

DAVID PAGE: Notes from St. David’s Writer’s Conference

LOBSTER-TALES

FLASHY MOON EXPLOSIONS

RIDING THE RAILS: A True Story

THE ART OF THE INTERVIEW: Things Writers Should Know

QUINTESSENCE

JUST ANOTHER WEEKEND IN PARADISE

“DATING WHEN FIFTY-SOME:” A Guy’s Version

IS THIS “CHEERS?”

ON THE EVE OF 27

LEGS UP