Dandelion Wine
After reading Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, I became more aware of the magic of summer and what it means to truly live. The novel gave me a new perspective of thee idea that life is like summer where you’re alive and feel free, but how it sadly doesn't last forever. The novel opened me up to the idea of looking at person’s mental age instead of their physical age. The novel follows the path of Douglas, a twelve-year-old boy living in Green Town, Illinois. In the novel, Douglas strives to enjoy his summer and to live his life to its fullest. In his adventuring, he becomes more aware of the nature of the world and tries to make sense of life and death. At the same time, Douglas sees people as “machines” that serve a purpose until they break down. Among other themes, Ray Bradbury suggests that too much dependence on these “machine” people might tear us away from ourselves.
The novel starts with Douglas embracing the beauty of summer and his young unrestricted life. Almost immediately, the reader is presented with the idea of the magic of life and childhood wonder. At the beginning of the summer, Douglas proposes that he will write about summer rituals and write down his reflections on those rituals. Douglas’ summer is very eventful. Leo Auffmann, the town jeweler, decides to invent a Happiness Machine. Although he fails, he learns from his failure that his family was Happiness Machine all along. Douglas discovers that adults and children are two different races, and that old people were never children although they have a past. Douglas’ friend Charlie takes John and Douglas to meet Colonel Freeleigh, a very old man whom they call a Time Machine because he tells stories that have the power to transport them back...
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... as another race, Tom and Douglas are fascinated by old people and the stories of their past. When Douglas’ old friend Colonel Freeleigh dies, Douglas is sad knowing that “The Time Machine” will no longer work. Living in the Northwest, I can relate to Douglas in the book because I enjoy going outdoors in the summer and being as active as possible. As Douglas emulates his happiness from Dandelion Wine, I think my joy in the summer emulates from watching summer sunsets and sitting by a campfire looking up at stars. I understood after making this connection that summer is incredibly precious to Douglas and that the idea of death is painful in contrast. My understanding is different after reading Dandelion Wine because the novel taught me acceptance of death and to live without a “machine”. No matter what may happen, anything can be healed with a sip of Dandelion Wine.
Winter Dreams follows the life of Dexter Green as he pursues wealth and societal affluence in the hopes of winning the love and affection of Judy Jones, a spoiled socialite from a wealthy family who he first met when he was an adolescent while caddying at an exclusive golf club. As a result of this meeting and the embarrassment he felt in his role as a mere caddie; Dexter makes the irrational decision to quit his caddying job and begin his quest for upper-class social status. The author recapitulates this decision by the protagonist with the following statement; “It is not so simple as that either. As so frequently would be the case in the future, Dexter was unconsciously dictated to by his winter dreams.”
The novel tells the story of the Dollanganger family after their father dies suddenly in a car accident. Corrine, the mother, and her 4 children are left to deal with the aftermath. The children are given a rude awakening, they come to realize that their lovely lifestyle and all their beautiful, expensive things don’t truly belong to them. After a short time, their items and there home are going to be taken by the bank, which is when their mother reveals that they will be going to live with their grandmother. With promises of riches and luxury the children agree to go, but soon after arriving at the home of their grandmother they realize that it was a mistake. The children were forced to stay all in one room, because their grandfather did not even know they existed and could not ever hear or see them. The only place they had to roam free was an old attic. What their mother had told them would one be days, or even a week, turned into nearly three years of entrapment. During their captivity the children all slowly became more sick and weak, until one of the youngest dies. It is later revealed that the children’s mother had been poisoning them with arsenic, this revelations is what prompted the children to round up all the valuables and money they could get their hands on and make their
As the sweltering, hot sun signified the start of a scorching afternoon, a young boy lay in the fields harvesting vegetables for another family. He had been enslaved to perform chores around the house for the family, and was only given very few privileges. While his stomach throbbed with pangs of hunger, he continued cooking meals for them. After the family indulged in the cozy heat from the fireplace, he was the one to clean the ashes. Despite his whole body feeling sore from all the rigorous work he completed, the young boy had been left alone to suffer. As months passed by, he desired independence. He wanted to cook his own food, make his own fire, harvest his own plants and earn money. The lad soon discovered that he needed faith and courage to break away from his restricted environment. When put in a suppressive situation, every person has the aspiration to escape the injustice. This is what Harrison Bergeron and Sanger Rainsford do to liberate themselves from the external forces that govern their lives. Harrison, the main character of “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt Vonnegut, is a strong, fourteen year old boy whose talents have been concealed by the government. Growing up in an environment where equality has restricted people’s thinking, Harrison endeavors to change society’s views. Rainsford, the main character of “The Most Dangerous Game” written by Richard Connell, is a skilled hunter who believes that animals were made to be hunted; he has no sympathy for them. Stranded on island with a killer chasing him, he learns to make rational choices. While both Harrison and Ranisford are courageous characters, Rainsford’s prudence enables him to overpower his enemy, whereas Harrison’s impulsive nature results in him being ...
The novel begins with the mother ignorant to modern society. Junior emphasizes this. "No one had ever taught her anything. She was an orphan at six months"(23). "At the age of thirteen, she was married off to a man rolling in money and in morality whom she had never seen. He would have been the age of her father. He was my father"(24). She has been isolated in her home since she was married twenty-two years ago. Her husband went off to work and her sons went off to school. The mother stayed in the home and took care of her family and her house. She rejected any French influence in her home. Her sons were punished for speaking the language. She was content in her innocence.
“You’re sleeping the day away.I can’t tell who is lazier, Polly or you,” Mother muttered as she stalked out of the room. “When I was a girl, we were up before the sun . . .” (1)This is our first look into Mattie’s world, we see the tension between her and her mother and we get to see Mattie’s much more lazier and childish side.Through the rest of her day we see inside Mattie’s world at the coffee house, her family owns, we experience along with Mattie her Mother’s nagging, but also Mattie’s constant complaining. ”Dash it all, Grandfather said I was a Daughter of Liberty, a real American girl. I could steer my own ship. No one would call me little Mattie. They would call me “Ma’am.”(2) This shows us Mattie’s desire for a more adventurous life, how her dreams are so much bigger than what her family wants, mostly because she’s never really experienced more than her everyday life. This shows Mattie is ready to grow up, she just needs that
"I 'm not really dying today. No person ever died that had a family. I 'll be around a long time. A thousand years from now a whole township of my offspring will be biting sour apples in the gumwood shade.” (page 183) Throughout the story, Dandelion Wine, family is a major theme. After long busy days they all come together and are able to spend time together. It is very important to not get to caught up in life and forget the true meaning and the importance of family. Because life and family are such major aspects in the book, realizing what it is like to live and to die, family traditions, family time and working together is so important in there everyday lives in Dandelion Wine.
At the age of 9, a little girl is counting down the days until her next birthday because double digits are a big deal. Now she is 12 and is still counting the days until she can call herself a teenager. For years people cannot wait to be another year older… until they actually become older. As people grow up they accept that maturing means taking on responsibilities and adulthood. Having sleepovers and play-dates, taking naps, and climbing the monkey bars becomes taboo. The simplistic life of a child quickly changes into the dull reality of school and work. People will spend years wishing they were older; but when the time comes, they hope to go back to their innocence. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger writes a stream of consciousness
The speaker also manipulates time to bring out his or her message. Lines 3, 8, 11, 21, 34, and 36 all contain some order of either “spring summer autumn winter” (3), as in lines 11 and 34, or “sun moon stars rain” (8), as in lines 11, 21, and 36. As the order of these seasons changes, it indicates the passage of time. This manipulation of time draws attention away from these lines and towards the lines with deeper meaning hidden within. However, there is another form of time: the progression of life. The speaker comments on the growth of children in terms of their maturity levels and how as they get older, children tend to forget their childish whims and fancies and move on. He or she says that they “guessed (but only a few / and down they forgot as up they grew” (9-10). He or she then goes on to say that “no one loved [anyone] more by more” (12), hinting at a relationship in development, foreshadowing a possible marriage.
Growing up, Charlie faced two difficult loses that changed his life by getting him admitted in the hospital. As a young boy, he lost his aunt in a car accident, and in middle school, he lost his best friend who shot himself. That Fall, Charlie walks through the doors his first day of highschool, and he sees how all the people he used to talk to and hang out with treat him like he’s not there. While in English class, Mr. Anderson, Charlie’s English teacher, notices that Charlie knew the correct answer, but he did not want to speak up and let his voice be heard. As his first day went on, Charlie met two people that would change named Sam and Patrick who took Charlie in and helped him find himself. When his friends were leaving for college, they took one last ride together in the tunnel and played their favorite song. The movie ends with Charlie reading aloud his final letter to his friend, “This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story, you are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder, when you were listening to that song” (Chbosky). Ever since the first day, Charlie realized that his old friends and classmates conformed into the average high schooler and paid no attention to him. Sam and Patrick along with Mr. Anderson, changed his views on life and helped him come out of his shell. Charlie found a
Marita Bonner starts her short essay by describing the joys and innocence of youth. She depicts the carefree fancies of a cheerful and intelligent child. She compares the feelings of such abandonment and gaiety to that of a kitten in a field of catnip. Where the future is opened to endless opportunities and filled with all the dream and promises that only a youth can know. There are so many things in the world to see, learn, and experience that your mind in split into many directions of interest. This is a memorable time in life filled with bliss and lack of hardships.
The events take place during the great depression, when money was quite a problem among the American population. However, the Exeter family has lots of it. In 1903, Lawrence Exeter’s wife gives birth to a baby boy, whom they name after his father. Given the wealth of the Exeter family, they pay to send their son to a private elementary school by the time he is six years old. At the age of seven, Lawrence Jr is given a bicycle, just like any other young boy. However, by the time Lawrence Jr has turned twelve, he is a troublemaker, and is causing problems in the Exeter household. Finally, his parents decide to send him to military school in order to control his behavior. For his eighteenth birthday, the Exeters decide to purchase a Cadillac for their reckless son.
Plot: The matriarch of a poverty stricken southern family, Addie Bundren, lays dying in her bed. Married to Anse Bundren, she births five children: Jewel, Cash, Darl, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman Bundren. Her neighbors, Vernon and Cora Tull (as well as their children), care for Addie in her final days as her family keeps the house running. Cash, the oldest, spends most of his time building a coffin for his mother right underneath her window. The second oldest child, Darl, and the youngest, Vardaman, just try to survive during the time of the book. Dewey Dell, the only daughter in the family, becomes pregnant and acts as if she does not care about the death of her mother, only the abortion of her bastard child. Jewel, known as Addie’s favorite child,
The story starts off relatively slow and mundane, following Andy through his “normal” life for about a third of the book, until the event that changes forever the life he’s known. Although Andy is no stranger to bizarre occurrences, this one takes the cake. This is where the story quickly becomes intriguing. In a time and place completely foreign to Andy, he must navigate his
Time is one of the basic components of life that one does not often stop to dwell upon. Each second marks a transition in an individual’s life, but it is rare for someone to consider the true magic of this small measure of history. In Tom’s Midnight Garden, Philippa Pearce examines the concept of time in a truly unique manner as she tells the story of a child who comes to terms with time in an extraordinary manner. As Pearce crafts this beautiful yet simply written novel, she intertwines both a moving plot and universal ideas in order to reveal more than meets the eye in terms of the power of time. The novel revolves around a young boy by the name of Tom Long who, in an adverse situation is shipped away from his home to live with his childless Uncle and Aunt for the summer. While Tom is disgruntled by the notion, he comes to adjust his views when he discovers a magical garden that opens his eyes to new experiences and feelings. With the discovery of this mysterious world in the garden, Tom is forced to decipher the power of time, companionship, and imagination and through this journey, he evolves from the childish, inconsiderate young boy he once was into one with a more mature and sensitive outlook on his own life and the world as a whole.
For Olds, watching her son take a role of maturity is quite impressive. Although the birthday party consists of young boys, aging from six to seven they are mentioned in the poem and referred to as “men.” “Short men, men in first grade”, shows that Old is referring the term “men”, to the male guest, as well as her son. “Hands in pockets, they stand around, jostling, jockeying for place, small fights, breaking out and calming” this evidence appoints that Olds son cleared up the uncomfortable setting of his birthday party, and turned the party into a moderate “celebration of his life”. The observation of that Olds viewed of her son’s birthday party, shows that the celebration of her son’s life, will only result into him being an older man, and taking more mature roles. The “relationship cannot be repaired to an original” mommy’s precious little guy, mother and son