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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. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
“January 1999: Rocket Summer”
“February 1999: Ylla”
“August 1999: The Summer Night”
“August 1999: The Earth Men”
“March 2000: The Taxpayer”
“April 2000: The Third Expedition”
“June 2001: —And the Moon Be Still as Bright”
“August 2001: The Settlers”
“December 2001: The Green Morning”
“February 2002: The Locusts”
“August 2002: Night Meeting”
“October 2002: The Shore”
“February 2003: Interim”
“April 2003: The Musicians”
“June 2003: Way in the Middle Air”
“2004-2005: The Naming of Names”
“April 2005: Usher II”
“August 2005: The Old Ones”
“September 2005: The Martian”
“November 2005: The Luggage Store”
“November 2005: The Off Season”
“November 2005: The Watchers”
“December 2005: The Silent Towns”
“April 2026: The Long Years”
“August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains”
“October 2026: The Million-Year Picnic”
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Sam Parkhill, a member of the fourth expedition featured in the story “—the Moon Be Still as Bright” is now married and has built a hot dog stand at the crossroads of what he expects to be a busy highway. Thousands of rockets, bearing hundreds of thousands of people, are expected from Earth, and Parkhill knows they will bring traffic past his stand. His wife Elma is uncertain of their success due to the increasing threat of atomic war on Earth.
A masked Martian manifests before Sam and requests to speak with him, but Sam grows panicked by its presence—this is the second time it has appeared that morning—and kills it after it presents a brass document tube he mistakes as a weapon. Elma retrieves the document, but neither she nor Sam can read the Martian writing. Sam buries the Martian’s remains.
When Sam spots a fleet of Martian sand ships approaching, he and Elma flee the hot dog stand using a sand ship Sam bought at auction. Another Martian manifests on Sam’s ship and commands him to return to the hot dog stand so the Martians can give him an important message about Earth. She claims the Martians come in peace, but Sam kills her with very little hesitation.
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