Key Facts

full title ·  Dandelion Wine

author · Ray Bradbury

type of work · Novel

genre · Science fiction/fantasy/autobiographical narrative

language · English

time and place written · Written over a twelve-year period from 1944 to 1956

date of first publication · Parts were published as short stories as early as 1951 but the entire novel was first published in 1957.

publisher · Doubleday

narrator · Omniscient narrator

climax · Douglas's sickness is the climax of the novel.

protagonist · Douglas Spaulding

antagonist · The Lonely One, not as the man whom Lavinia Nebbs kills, but as the force who represents evil and death.

setting (time) · Summer of 1928

setting (place) · Green Town, Illinois (the name Bradbury gives to Waukegan, his hometown)

point of view · Mostly presented from Douglas's point of view, although several chapters are presented from the point of view of one of the other characters.

falling action · Douglas passes on the gift—the magic of life—that Mr. Jonas gave him to Grandma Spaulding.

tense · Immediate past

tone · The tone is one of playful and blissful reminiscence.

themes · Life; happiness; change

motifs · Memory; magic

symbols · Dandelions; machines