1
Quigley
AP English Literature and Composition
June 10
,
2011
Fantasy and Realism: An Examination of the Fantastic
in Fahrenheit 451
and Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury was born and raised in Waukegan
,
Illinois
,
a small
,
iconic
Midwestern town
.
This town
,
as well as Bradbury’s experiences there
,
serves as a basis
for the setting and plot of Bradbury’s novel Dandelion Wine
.
Throughout this novel
,
he
illustrates the many traditional values that were impressed upon him as a young boy
.
In
his earlier novel
,
Fahrenheit 451
,
Bradbury conveys the widespread fear of communism
and censorship that was felt in America in the 1950s
,
while also demonstrating the
values of this time period
.
In both novels
,
Bradbury uses fantastical elements to tell
realistic stories that reflect the values that he has acquired throughout his life
.
Dandelion Wine
,
although written in 1957
,
is set in the summer of 1928 in
fictional Green Town
,
Illinois
.
When writing the novel at age 37
,
Bradbury drew upon
his childhood experiences in Waukegan
,
Illinois
.
Dandelion Wine
follows Douglas
Spaulding
,
a 12-year-old boy
,
and his family
,
friends
,
and neighbors as they pass the
summer in Green Town
,
a town that aims to amaze and fascinate
,
rather than pretend to
2
be normal (Merritt)
.
Douglas
,
the main character in the story
,
is loosely based upon a
younger Bradbury
.
As the Bradbury family did
,
the Douglas and his family live next
door to his grandparents
.
Some of Bradbury’s most treasured memories of Waukegan
stem from the various rituals that his family performed each year
.
In the novel
,
young
Douglas documents similar rituals of summer on a nickel tablet under the heading
“Rites and Ceremonies
,
” and writes how he feels about the ritual under the heading
“Discoveries and Revelations”
(
Dandelion Wine 27
).
Douglas describes the rituals to
his brother Tom
,
saying that it’s “every year the same things
,
same way
,
no change no
difference
.
That’s one half of summer
,
Tom
.
”
(
DW 26
).
He goes on
,
saying that
,
after
a ritual has been performed
,
“you think about it
,
and whatever you think
,
crazy or not
,
you put under Discoveries and Revelations
,
”
(
DW 27
).
Douglas’s nickel tablet
reappears throughout the novel
,
emphasizing the impact that Bradbury’s childhood
traditions had on him
.
In Dandelion Wine
,
Bradbury employs several fantastic elements to further his
otherwise realistic story
.
One example of this is when Grandpa Spaulding’s neighbor
brings over a few flats of a new type of grass that never needs to be cut
.
