Ain't No Sunshine

All Summer in a Day

Ray Bradbury story, "All Summer in a day", is about a little girl named Margot. She is form the planet Earth, but she lives in planet Venus where it always rain. Every 7 years the sun came out for only one hour. She was very exited to see the sun for the first time since she left her home in Earth. The other kids didn't believed her that she have seeing the sun so they lock her up in a closet. Just after that, the rain stop and everyone went to play outside in the sun, everyone except for Margot. The kid had a lot of fun outside playing tag and hide-and-seek but mostly, they enjoyed the sun. An hour passed by and the kids began to feel raindrops on their faces. It began to rain again for 7 years more and the sunshine was now gone. The kids went inside and unlock the closet door where Margot was and let her out.

Bradbury uses a very good imagery and that helps the reader imagine what the place and characters looks like. 

It was the color of rubber and ash, this jungle, from the many years without sun.  It was the color of stones and white cheeses and ink, and it was the color of the moon (3).

With this detailed description the reader can imagine the jungle as the author wants us to. It describes the plants as if they were colorless or have very light colors like white and grey. The setting is a very important part in this story and Bradbury use a very strong imagery to describe it and that is what makes it so good. But Bradbury doesn't only use imagery in his stories, he  also use characterisation to describe the characters. In this story he uses characterisation to describe the main character, Margot.

She was a very frail girl who

looked as if she had been lost in the rain for

years and the rain had washed out the blue
from her eyes and the red from her mouth

and the yellow from her hair. She was an old

photograph dusted from an album, whitened

away, and if she spoke at all her voice would

be a ghost (2).



While reading this part you can visualise exactly hoe the girl look. Also it kind of demonstrates how she feels, sad and lost.

This story is fun to read but at the same time is a little sad. These both emotions helps us determine some really good messages that the story leave us think about. The message that seemed the best one to me was to be grateful for the things you have, before they are gone. This story is a great short story thanks to the strong imagery and the detailed characterisation.


Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers:

When I read this story, it reminded my of this  song 

that talks that there is no sunshine, just like in Margot's case 

because when she was gone, she didn't had sunshine 

Release...

It wasn't a normal day in Jonas’ society, it was an UNSCHEDULED HOLIDAY! Jonas went to look for his friend Asher and he found him playing in the park with Fiona and other kids. When he got closer he realized they were playing a war game. Jonas told Asher to stop playing that horrible game but Asher didn't understand why. That night, Father told the rest of the family that the next day will be a very important day because he will release one of the 2 new born twins. The next day in Jonas’ training, the Giver told Jonas about the fail of the last Receiver. Her name was Rosemary, she was chosen, just like Jonas, and the Giver had to give her psychological pain. After 5 weeks since she begun her training, she asked for released and all the memories that she had went back to the people. The Giver asked Jonas if he wanted to the video of the release of the twin. In the video they saw that Father weight the 2 babies and he handed the heavier baby to his assistant and she left the room. Then, Father took a syringe with a clear liquid and he start to inject the liquid to the baby. After that Jonas realised that release meant kill. Then Father put the little baby into a carton container and thew it away. Jonas was shocked and now he didn't want to go back home so he stayed with the Giver that night. They wanted to change the things in the society so they made a very clever plan....

He killed it! My father killed it! (150)

This part of the book shocked me. I have being wondering what was release and now he finally know that release means to KILL! When I read this part I thought that Jonas' father kills babies for living and for him there isn't anything bad with it. He don't know what he is doing because he don't have memories that shows he that what he is doing is wrong and because Jonas has some memories, he was affected when he saw that his father killed a new born child.

Theses last chapters have being very interesting. I want to see what happens next. I look forward  to finish the book soon. Some questions I have are: Will Jonas tell his mother about this? What will happen to Lily and Gabe? The Giver's plan will succeed? what will the giver do when Jonas is gone? What will happen if he is suffering because he is feeling pain, there will not be anyone to transmit the memory to.

What do YOU think will happen?