In this novel, dandelion wine represents summer and what happens during this season. Douglas Spalding is a 12-year-old boy with a younger sibling named Tom. Douglas and Tom will go out to grandfather's yard three times a year to collect all the dandelions for a nickel bag (Bradbury, 19). This was the trend back then, so Douglas and Tom simply followed the established tradition. Their grandfather will then proceed to produce wine from the dandelions, bottle it in large barrels, and lock it in the cellar for potential use. When winter came, the wine would then be consumed. It tasted like the past August, which was summer, only that it lacked the Coppertone aftertaste.
The fact that grandfather made dandelion wine during summer and consumed it during winter shows that dandelion wine is a way of storing memories of a season in a bottle. The memories are then remembered when the season is over and when in a different season (Bradbury, 83). Grandfather’s wine carried all the memories of summer for them to be used during winter. Grandfather’s dandelion wine mainly contained dandelion petals and citrus fruits among other ingredients. Grandfather’s dandelion wine is special in this book since it serves as a metaphor. It is used to refer to all the joy and fun of summer packed together in a bottle. The dandelion wine is used to bring up all the good memories of summer during the hard times of winter. The dandelion wine refers to a number of short stories that all happened during summer where Douglas and his family are the main characters.
Identify and discuss what lessons are learned during the short life of “the Happiness Machine. “
Between chapter eight and eleven of the book Dandelion Wine, we see men gathered at a store discussing about all the bad things that are happening in the world today. The owner of the store known as Leo Auffmann is concerned and wants the people to stop being so sad and gloomy. Grandfather Spaulding walked in with Tom and Douglas and pose a challenge to Leo to invent something that would make the world a better place (Bradbury, 29). Douglas calls it a Happiness machine. They were joking but Leo took them seriously. A good lesson to learn here is that we should be able to differentiate between jokes and serious matters. Leo set out to build a happiness machine despite the fact that it was a failed project from the beginning. The fact that his wife did not support his project should have given him the idea that it is an impossible project.
Happiness is not a state that is similar to every person. There are situations where one can be happy while others are terrified in the same situation. A good example is when Tom and his mother went out to look for Douglas. They were very scared when they got to the ravine. They felt alone and in danger. However, Douglas was happily playing with his friends in the dark ravine without any fear or distress (Bradbury, 52). We can see that he is happy. This is a good example of the fact that happiness is not something that can be created. We should all appreciate the uncertainty of life and always remember that in life there are happy and sad moments. Tom also learns a very good lesson at the ravine. First, he felt very safe because he was with his mother. He got a little confused when he noted that his mother was scared to death. He learnt that in life we only rely on ourselves at the end of the day. Never count on others no matter how much you trust their presence in your life.
What do you think is the most important conflict faced so far in the novel? Describe this conflict and how the characters involved react to it.
The most important conflict in the novel is the conflict of life and death. The whole novel is somehow a learning lesson. Douglas is a young boy learning a lot about life and trying to understand death while Tom somehow has a childish view of life. It is during this summer that Douglas realizes that he is alive in a special way. He even decides to keep track of the events of this summer with his younger brother (Bradbury, 13). As the boys enjoy their summer, they go through a number of adventures that make them more aware of life. Douglas comes across the ravine where he is in danger but very happy while it scared Tom and their mum to death. Douglas challenges Leo Auffmann to build a happiness machine which he tries and fails realizing that family is the greatest happiness. Tom got a chance to spend a lot of time with Mrs. Helen Bentley. He learnt that old people were never children at some point of their lives. Charlie Woodman introduced Douglas to Colonel Freeleigh. Freeleigh was named the Time Machine because he was old and had stories going back a hundred years.
Douglas and Tom also learnt a lot about death. Douglas was very disturbed when Miss Fern and Miss Roberta had an accident in an electric powered vehicle that they never drove again afterwards (Bradbury, 71). They also saw Mr. Tridden part with his trolley as it was to be replaced by buses. Douglas is also hurt a lot when John Huff moves away to a different town. Colonel Freeleigh dies after the telephone was taken away from him. Bill Forrester starts a romantic relationship with the older Hellen Loomis who dies soon after. Lavinia Nebbs kills the Lonely One who had stalked the women of the town for a long time. Douglas’s great grandmother passed away but assured him that she would never truly die because she had family. Douglas also falls ill with fever and almost dies but he is saved by the junkman Ned Jonas who delivered bottled air to him. By the end of that summer, Douglas came out more aware of life and death and wiser than ever.
One theme that emerges in Dandelion Wine is the importance of perceiving and appreciating the small, taken-for-granted things in our everyday lives. Discuss how this theme operates in the first half of the novel.
One of the major themes in the novel is the theme of life. Most people spend their lives as if it is a normal thing to wake up every morning. Most people live as if it is their right to wake up the next morning. In the first part of the novel, Douglas becomes conscious that he is alive. This is not something that one would wake up one day and say that he is alive. Douglas was keen enough to note that he is alive and actually appreciated that he was alive. Another thing we all fail to appreciate in life is the fact that one day we will die. Douglas saw death as a bad thing and it was very difficult for him to come to terms with it. However, Helen Loomis and Great-Grandma Spaulding died content with themselves and that everything was okay (Bradbury, 65). Death is one thing that people never think about since they take it as normal. The author shows us that it is good to appreciate every little thing in our lives including death.
Happiness is one thing that most people take for granted in life. The author shows us that the characters in the novel took happiness for granted. Leo Auffmann wanted to build a happiness machine so that people could always be happy. What he forgot is that he already had all the components of being happy but he took them for granted. Eventually, Lena Auffmann showed him that family was all he needed to be happy and he stopped taking them for granted. Love is another thing that is normally taken for granted in life. Most people assume that the old do not have any love left to share. Miss Helen Loomis reminded everyone that they should not take love for granted. At 95 years she had a relationship with Bill Forrester, something that most people would not do since they think there is no love at 95 (Bradbury, 46).
Work Cited
Bradbury, Ray. Dandelion Wine. Woodstock, IL, Dramatic Publishing Company, 1983,.
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