Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury
Contributed by Loretta Ingwersen
Chapter 1
Summary

Douglas Spaulding wakes up at his grandparents’ house, where he is allowed to sleep over one night a week during the summer. Taking in the sensations of the morning and looking over his view of Green Town, Douglas calls out the waking of the town’s various residents. In this manner, the summer of 1928 began.

Analysis

Douglas’ incantation to the town shows a child’s sense of control in familiar surroundings: he is, in a sense, the master of his own universe precisely because he knows the behavior and routines of those around him. The Spaulding boys have a view of the world that is both solipsistic - the philosophical notion that the only confirmable truths are what one experiences - and narcissistic - the psychological belief that the self is the center of all events. That is the nature of childhood, Bradbury clearly implies, something that is part of the sense of invulnerability and immortality that comes with childhood. It is also something that Douglas must deal with as the story progresses.

On a metafictive level - that is, as a self-aware commentary on the writing of this story - Douglas is a stand-in for his namesake Ray Douglas Bradbury, who is indeed controlling the world of Green Town as its literary creator. The importance of Douglas’ grandparents are established from the start, as well as the distinction between old people and children: while older people are important to the children of the novel, they are seen as entirely different kinds of beings because their present-day experience seems so removed from one another.

info_outline
Have study documents to share about Dandelion Wine? Upload them to earn free Studypool credits!