26 pages • 52 minutes read
Ray BradburyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The concept of a game, or of play in general, is a powerful and important motif throughout the story. At first, the alien invasion unfolds only within the confines of the game, but as the plot progresses, the line between imagination and reality blurs. Bradbury’s use of this motif complicates the very notion of innocence and therefore furthers the story’s thematic concerns with its loss. It’s hard to tell the exact moment that the game becomes more than a game—in other words, when the game becomes something that is no longer innocent. The same can be said of the children themselves. As the game becomes more serious and the consequences more real, the children’s understanding of what they are ushering in seems to grow. The lack of a clear boundary between game and reality mirrors the lack of a clear boundary between innocence and culpability.
There are many moments within the story that mention a clock, the passage of time, or a reference to a specific moment—most notably the designation of five o’clock as “zero hour,” or the planned time of invasion. Phrases like “time passed” (Paragraph 158) and “the hour drowsed by” (Paragraph 143) keep the passing of time at the forefront of the reader’s mind, creating a countdown to zero hour.
By Ray Bradbury
A Graveyard for Lunatics
A Graveyard for Lunatics
Ray Bradbury
All Summer In A Day
All Summer In A Day
Ray Bradbury
A Sound Of Thunder
A Sound Of Thunder
Ray Bradbury
Dandelion Wine
Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury
Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed
Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed
Ray Bradbury
Death is a Lonely Business
Death is a Lonely Business
Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
Marionettes, Inc.
Marionettes, Inc.
Ray Bradbury
Selected from Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed
Selected from Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed
Ray Bradbury
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury
The Halloween Tree
The Halloween Tree
Ray Bradbury
The Illustrated Man
The Illustrated Man
Ray Bradbury
The Martian Chronicles
The Martian Chronicles
Ray Bradbury
The Other Foot
The Other Foot
Ray Bradbury
The Pedestrian
The Pedestrian: A Fantasy in One Act
Ray Bradbury
There Will Come Soft Rains
There Will Come Soft Rains
Ray Bradbury
The Toynbee Convector
The Toynbee Convector
Ray Bradbury
The Veldt
The Veldt
Ray Bradbury