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What are some literary devices used in Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day"?

Some of the devices Ray Bradbury uses repeatedly in his short story are similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and asyndeton. Bradbury uses numerous simileswhen describing the children and the sun. Describing how the children press together to look out the window, he says they are "like so many roses, so many weeds." Later the children are "like a feverish wheel," "like animals escaped from their caves," "like so many stakes," and "like leaves before a new...

Some of the devices Ray Bradbury uses repeatedly in his short story are similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and asyndeton. Bradbury uses numerous similes when describing the children and the sun. Describing how the children press together to look out the window, he says they are "like so many roses, so many weeds." Later the children are "like a feverish wheel," "like animals escaped from their caves," "like so many stakes," and "like leaves before a new hurricane." The sun is "like a lemon," "like a fire," "like a penny," and "like a warm iron."


Metaphors are used to describe the rain. It is compared to tidal waves, a "tatting drum," and to clear beads from a necklace that fall on the roof and disappear. Margot is metaphorically described as an "old photograph dusted from an album" and a ghost. Bradbury compares the stopping of the rain to film that suddenly gets ripped from the projector and replaced with a still photograph. Metaphors used to describe the Venus jungle include "a nest of octopi, clustering up great arms of fleshlike weed," "rubber," "mattresses,"and "white cheeses." The silence that the children enjoy during the hour of sunshine is compared to a sea. 


Hyperbole is used in the following phrase:  "the gigantic sound of the rain falling in tons and avalanches, everywhere and forever."


Bradbury often uses asyndeton, putting phrases together without conjunctions, to give his writing energy. Here is an example:  "Lightning struck ten miles away, five miles away, a mile, a half mile." Here is another example: "a film concerning an avalanche, a tornado, a hurricane, a volcanic eruption." 


Bradbury packs his little story full of various literary devices, making it more enjoyable to read. 

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