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

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