SN PLUS 3
SN PLUS 3

Suggestions

Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
  • Shakespeare dark gray
    • No Fear Shakespeare Translations
    • Shakespeare Study Guides
    • Shakespeare Life & Times
    • Glossary of Shakespeare Terms
  • Literature dark gray
    • No Fear Literature Translations
    • Literature Study Guides
    • Glossary of Literary Terms
    • How to Write Literary Analysis
  • Other Subjects dark gray
    • Biography
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Computer Science
    • Drama
    • Economics
    • Film
    • Health
    • History
    • Math
    • Philosophy
    • Physics
    • Poetry
    • Psychology
    • Short Stories
    • Sociology
    • US Government and Politics
  • Test Prep PLUS dark gray
    • Test Prep Lessons
    • AP® English Literature
    • AP® English Language
  • Teacher dark gray
    • SparkTeach
    • Teacher's Handbook
  • Blog
My PLUS Dashboard
  • My PLUS Activity dark gray
    • Notes
    • Bookmarks
    • Test Prep PLUS
    • No Fear Translations & Audio
    • Mastery Quizzes
    • Flashcards
    • Infographics
    • No Fear Graphic Novels
  • Account Details
  • Subscription & Billing

Please wait while we process your payment

Reset Password

  • Please wait while we process your payment

    Log in Sign up

    Sparknotes

  • By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.

    Don’t have an account? Subscribe now

    Create Your Account

    Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial

    • Ad-free experience
    • Study notes
    • Flashcards
      & Quizzes
    • AP® English Test Prep
    • Plus much more

  • Already have an account? Log in

    Your Email

    Choose Your Plan

    BEST VALUE

    Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!

    Continuing to Payment will take you to astripe-imagepayment page

    Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?

    Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!

  • Price

    $24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax

    Subtotal $37.48 + tax

    Save 25% on 2-49 accounts

    Save 30% on 50-99 accounts

    Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.

    Your Plan

    Payment Details

  • We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country.

  • Payment Details

    Payment Summary

    SparkNotes Plus

    You'll be billed after your free trial ends.

    7-Day Free Trial

    Not Applicable

    Renews April 7, 2023 March 31, 2023

    Discounts (applied to next billing)

    DUE NOW

    US $0.00

    SNPLUSROCKS20  |  20% Discount

    This is not a valid promo code.

    Discount Code (one code per order)

    SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.

    Choose Your Plan

    Suggestions

    Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
    • My Account Icon My Account white
      • My PLUS Activity
        • Notes
        • Bookmarks
        • Test Prep PLUS
        • No Fear Translations
        • Mastery Quizzes
        • Flashcards
        • Infographics
        • No Fear Graphic Novels
      • Account Details
      • Subscription & Billing
      My PLUS Dashboard
    • Shakespeare white
      • No Fear Shakespeare Translations
      • Shakespeare Study Guides
      • Shakespeare Life & Times
      • Glossary of Shakespeare Terms
    • Literature white
      • No Fear Literature Translations
      • Literature Study Guides
      • Glossary of Literary Terms
      • How to Write Literary Analysis
    • Other Subjects white
      • Biography
      • Biology
      • Chemistry
      • Computer Science
      • Drama
      • Economics
      • Film
      • Health
      • History
      • Math
      • Philosophy
      • Physics
      • Poetry
      • Psychology
      • Short Stories
      • Sociology
      • US Government and Politics
    • Test Prep PLUS white
      • Test Prep Lessons
      • AP® English Literature
      • AP® English Language
    • Teacher white
      • SparkTeach
      • Teacher's Handbook
    • Blog
    • Help

    Please wait while we process your payment

    expired-logo

    Your PLUS subscription has expired

    • We’d love to have you back! Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools.
    Renew your subscription

    Please wait while we process your payment

    expired-logo

    snpromo-logo
    • Looking for exclusive, AD-FREE study tools? Look no further!

    Dandelion Wine

    Ray Bradbury

    Study Guide
    • Study Guide
    • Summary
      • Summary & Analysis
      • Chapters 1–3
      • Chapters 4–7
      • Chapters 8–11
      • Chapters 12–13
      • Chapters 14–16
      • Chapters 17–19
      • Chapters 20–22
      • Chapters 23–24
      • Chapters 25–27
      • Chapters 28–29
      • Chapter 30
      • Chapters 31–33
      • Chapter 34
      • Chapters 35–38
      • Chapters 39–40
      • Full Book
      • Full Book Summary
      • Key Facts
    • Characters
      • Characters
      • Douglas
      • Tom
      • Grandpa Spaulding
    • Literary Devices
      • Themes
      • Motifs
      • Symbols
    • Quotes
      • Important Quotes Explained
    • Quick Quizzes
      • Book
      • Full Book Quiz
      • Chapters 1-3
      • Chapters 4-7
      • Chapters 8-11
      • Chapters 12-13
      • Chapters 14-16
      • Chapters 17-19
      • Chapters 20-22
      • Chapters 23-24
      • Chapters 25-27
      • Chapters 28-29
      • Chapter 30
      • Chapters 31-33
      • Chapter 34
      • Chapters 35-38
      • Chapters 39-40
        • More
        • Context
        • Summary
        • Characters
        • Character Analysis
        • Themes, Motifs, Symbols
        • Essays
          • Mini Essays
          • Suggested Essay Topics
        • Further Study
          • Suggestions for Further Reading
          • Ray Bradbury and Dandelion Wine Background

        Please wait while we process your payment

        snplus-logo

        Unlock your FREE SparkNotes PLUS trial!

        Unlock your FREE Trial!

        Sign up and get instant access to bookmarks.
        • Ad-Free experience
        • Easy-to-access study notes
        • Flashcards & Quizzes
        • AP® English test prep
        • Plus much more
        Already have an account? Log in
        Characters

        Characters

        Characters Characters
        • Douglas Spaulding

          The protagonist of the book. Douglas is a twelve-year-old boy with a vivid imagination and a compassionate nature. He cares deeply about his family and his friends, and he wants to understand the events that transpire around him. Douglas has trouble understanding why things do not always work out well, and death is particularly troublesome to him. His passion for life and his ability to clearly elucidate it are rare traits for a twelve-year-old child. Douglas possesses a deep understanding of life, and this is precisely why it is so difficult for him to come to terms with the concept of death. However, Douglas is an avid learner, and he takes to heart the lessons that he learns from his family members and his friends.

        • Tom Spaulding

          Douglas's ten-year-old brother. Tom in many ways provides a foil to his older brother. Tom is not yet faced with some of the challenges of growing up that Douglas must go through. His responses to situations help Douglas maintain a balance between taking an adult perspective and seeing things from a child's point of view. Tom is extremely intelligent and very imaginative. He understands Douglas extremely well, even if he cannot always relate to what Douglas is dealing with. Tom sees things that other characters in the book do not see, and he is aware of that fact.

        • Grandpa Spaulding

          Douglas and Tom's grandfather. Grandpa Spaulding provides much of the wisdom that Douglas and Tom depend on throughout the novel. He is a witty old man who delights in the beauty of life and the world and has the ability to make his feelings transparent to both adults and children. Grandpa Spaulding is the head of the family, and everyone in the town likes him. He loves to philosophize, and justifies lawn mowing as a great activity because it allows a person to be alone with himself and the world. Grandpa Spaulding finds pleasure in the little things—like dandelions.

          Read an in-depth analysis of Grandpa Spaulding .

        • Grandma Spaulding

          Douglas and Tom's grandmother. Grandma Spaulding shares the same zest for life as Grandpa Spaulding and the rest of the family. However, unlike her husband, she has a specific ability that demonstrates how in tune she is with the world—her cooking. Grandma Spaulding is a brilliant spontaneous chef, capable of concocting magnificent feasts without any concept of the specific ingredients. She is a woman who is at home in the world and content with her life and her cooking reflects that security and contentedness.

        • Great-grandma Spaulding

          The matriarch of the Spaulding family. Great-grandma Spaulding lives like the rest of the family. She is happy with the world and the life that she has lived and she dies contentedly. She tries to pass on to Tom and Douglas her understanding of life as a process that must end even though people live on in their families.

        • John Huff

          Douglas's best friend. John Huff is the best athlete among the boys. He is also kind and knows all of the things that twelve-year-old boys want to know. John worries that he will be nothing more than a forgotten memory once he leaves Green Town.

        • Colonel Freeleigh

          A very old man whose body has failed him, Colonel Freeleigh lives for the moments when his heart throbs in his chest and his breath comes in gasps. He wants nothing more than to live life to its fullest, and he passes on that passion to the boys through the stories he tells them.

        • Father

          Douglas and Tom's father is a man at ease among civilization and wilderness. He is quiet and thoughtful, and he understands his children very well. He knows what it is like to grow up and is ready to help Douglas and Tom as they go through the process.

        • Mother

          Strong-minded yet kind, Douglas's mother cares greatly for her children. She is very concerned for their safety and worries that some harm may come to Douglas while he is off in the wilderness with John Huff and Charlie Woodman.

        • Mr. Jonas

          The town junkman. Mr. Jonas is a caring man who understands what Douglas is going through during his fever. Mr. Jonas himself feels sadness at the ways of the world and knows that loving life is the only way to get past those feelings.

        • Bill Forrester

          A boarder in Douglas's grandparents' house. Bill gets along very well with everyone. Grandpa Spaulding teaches him the beauty of mowing a lawn. Bill spends several weeks enchanted with Helen Loomis before she dies, and her keen, inquisitive mind is a match for his.

        • Miss Helen Loomis

          The ninety-five-year-old Helen Loomis has a lifetime of adventures and a belief in true love that she shares with Bill Forrester. She believes that the love that they share, that of the mind, is the greatest love, and that someday some version of the two of them will meet at the right time and share a lifetime of love.

        • Charlie Woodman

          Douglas's other good friend. Charlie is the one who introduces the boys to Colonel Freeleigh. Charlie is always looking for thrills and adventure and he has a nose for the magical things that twelve-year-old children need.

        • Lavinia Nebbs

          Unwilling to let the mania surrounding the Lonely One scare her, Lavinia Nebbs will not let fear dictate her life. She starts the evening rational and fearless but is reduced to panic on the walk home when she admits her fear. At her house, she stabs and kills the Lonely One with a pair of sewing scissors.

        • Lonely One

          The antagonist in the book. The Lonely One is a force that everyone in the town fears. The adults fear the man whom Lavinia Nebbs stabs and kills, but the children fear something different. For the children the Lonely One represents the evil force that always lurks in the dark and can never be killed.

        • Leo Auffmann

          The town inventor. Leo Auffmann is as happy as he is brilliant. On a farcical suggestion from Douglas and Grandpa Spaulding he decides to build a Happiness Machine, but finds that it only threatens the real happiness in his life—his family. He is devoted to his family and could not be any happier than when with his wife and children.

        • Lena Auffmann

          The wife of Leo. She counsels against Leo's creation of a Happiness Machine by pointing out that all is well in their lives. She understands from the beginning that true happiness comes from a loving family, and Lena does her best to help her husband see this.

        Next section Douglas
        Test your knowledge

        Take the Characters Quick Quiz

        Take a study break

        QUIZ: Is This a Taylor Swift Lyric or a Quote by Edgar Allan Poe?

        Take a study break

        The 7 Most Embarrassing Proposals in Literature

        Did you know you can highlight text to take a note? x

        Please wait while we process your payment

        snplus-logo

        Unlock your FREE SparkNotes PLUS trial!

        Unlock your FREE Trial!

        Sign up and get instant access to creating and saving your own notes as you read.
        • Ad-Free experience
        • Easy-to-access study notes
        • Flashcards & Quizzes
        • AP® English test prep
        • Plus much more
        Already have an account? Log in

        Popular pages: Dandelion Wine

        • Douglas: Character Analysis CHARACTERS

        • Important Quotations Explained QUOTES

        • Themes LITERARY DEVICES

        • Review Quiz FURTHER STUDY

        Take a Study Break

        • QUIZ: Is This a Taylor Swift Lyric or a Quote by Edgar Allan Poe?

        • The 7 Most Embarrassing Proposals in Literature

        • The 6 Best and Worst TV Show Adaptations of Books

        • QUIZ: Which Greek God Are You?

        Sign up for our latest news and updates!
        By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Unsubscribe from our emails at any time.

        SparkNotes—the stress-free way to a better GPA

        • Quick Links
        • No Fear Shakespeare
        • Literature Guides
        • Other Subjects
        • Blog
        • Teacher’s Handbook
        • Premium Study Tools
        • SparkNotes PLUS
        • Sign Up
        • Log In
        • PLUS Help
        • More
        • Help
        • How to Cite SparkNotes
        • How to Write Literary Analysis
        • About
        • Contact Us

        Copyright © SparkNotes LLC

        • Terms of Use
        • |
        • Privacy
        • |
        • Cookie Policy
        • |
        • Do Not Sell My Personal Information