Friday, September 16, 2016

In the story "All Summer in a Day," why do the other children say that Margot is lying? What does it tell about them?

Unfortunately, the narrator of this great short story does not explicitly tell readers why the other children accuse Margot of lying about the sun. Readers are meant to infer this based on personal experience and textual evidence. I think in general, accusing Margot of lying is a basic coping mechanism for the other children. Instead of laughing off something that they might not believe or want to hear about, the other children turn antagonistic. Personally, I think the other children know full well that Margot remembers what the sun looks like. She is nine years old, and she came to Venus five years earlier. That means she was four years old on Earth. That's plenty old enough to remember the sun. The other children have always been on Venus. They were two years old the last time the sun came out, and they can't remember it.

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.

The children are jealous of something that Margot has that they do not have. The key is that what Margot has isn't something that the other children can physically take away from Margot. If she had a ball or doll that they did not, they could steal it or hide it and level the playing field. What Margot has is memories. They can't steal those memories, so the next best thing is to discredit the memories. If everybody believes that Margot is making up her memories, then Margot's supposed advantage over the other children disappears because nobody believes it anyway.


In the story, Margot tells the other children that the sun is shaped like a penny and that it is like a "fire in the stove." For their part, the children tell Margot that she is lying.
There are several possible reasons for this. First, Margot came to Venus five years ago. Since all of the children are currently nine years old, that means Margot landed on Venus when she was four. For Margot, the sun and its warmth still remains in her memory.
Meanwhile, the other children barely remember the sun; they only saw it once, when they were all two years old. So, they are jealous of Margot's experience. Their jealousy lends to their mistreatment of Margot.
Secondly, the children are frustrated about their lack of power. According to the text, the children are on Venus because of their parents, who are important scientists and space personnel. The children, with the exception of Margot, have been on Venus all of their lives. This means that they have never set foot on Earth, where the sun shines regularly.
Furthermore, there is little likelihood that they will ever be allowed to return to Earth. On the other hand, there have been rumors about Margot's parents taking her back to Earth the next year. While the children must remain on Venus, Margot gets to return to what the children believe is a happier environment.
So, the children accuse Margot of lying as a defense mechanism against feelings of weakness.

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