Dandelion Wine

As your read, use these questions to help you think about the text.

Chapter 1

  1. How does Douglas feel about himself, alone in the cupola of his grandmother’s house as he “wakes” the town?
  2. Have you ever felt like that? When?

Chapter 2

  1. What is the THING that Doug feels?
  2. Why does he fight with his brother Tom?
  3. It’s hard to tell if the THING is good or bad. Following the foreshadowing may help you decide.
  4. Identify the EXPLICIT foreshadowing, when Doug tells us that something will happen (copy the short phrases).
  5. Then, find IMPLICIT foreshadowing, places where images, language, mood, suggest that something good/ bad is about to happen.
  6. Analyze the foreshadowing, and decide if the story is foreshadowing a good thing or a bad thing. Does your analysis match your first impression of the THING?

Chapter 3

  1. How does Grandpa feel about the dandelions?
  2. What kind of water do they use in the wine, and why?
  3. What does dandelion wine bring to the people in the house in the winter?

Chapter 4

  1. What is the central image in this chapter?
  2. What might that image be a metaphor for?
  3. What details/ events in the chapter support your interpretation of the metaphorical meaning of that image?

Chapter 5

  1. What is the central object in this chapter?
  2. What does that object symbolize for Douglas?
  3. Think of something in your own life that can be compared to that object; something that makes you feel the way Doug feels about that object.
  4. What does Doug learn in this chapter?

Chapter 6

  1. What is your favorite image in this chapter?
  2. Why did you choose that image?
  3. Pick something you do every summer.
  4. Think about it, and come up with a revelation, or, an illumination, or, shall we say an intuition about it.

Chapter 7

  1. What is the central topic of this chapter?
  2. What does this object symbolize?
  3. In what way does this object become a symbol for an important difference between our lives and Douglas’ life?

Chapter 8,9,11,13 “The Happiness Machine”

  1. What items does Leo think belong in the Happiness Machine?
  2. What do you think Leo’s definition of happiness might be?
  3. What do you think Lena’s definition of happiness might be?
  4. Does the happiness machine bring happiness? Why or why not?
  5. What happens to the machine at the end, and what might that image symbolize?
  6. What might Bradbury be trying to say about happiness in this chapter?

Chapter 10

  1. What does little brother Tom learn in this chapter?
  2. Compare and contrast the ice cream store to the Ravine.
  3. Compare and contrast Tom’s sense that something is about to happen in this chapter to Doug’s sense that something was about to happen in chapter 2.

Chapter 12 “The Lawnmower”

  1. What day does Grandpa think should really be New Year’s Day, and why?
  2. What was Bill Forrester planning to do after he finished mowing the lawn?
  3. How does Grandpa react when he learns of Forrester’s plans?
  4. What is special about the new kind of grass?
  5. Why doesn’t Grandpa want that new grass?
  6. Grandpa sees the new grass as a metaphor for the younger generation; how does he explain the comparison? What is wrong with the new generation according to Grandpa?
  7. Does Doug fit into Grandpa’s image of the new generation? Why or why not?
  8. Does Forrester learn anything from Grandpa? What?
  9. Do you agree with Grandpa? Why or why not?

Chapter 14

  1. In what way is rug cleaning like dandelion wine?

Chapter 15-

  1. What do the children think of Mrs. Bentley?
  2. What does Mrs. Bentley think of the children?
  3. How does Mrs. Bentley feel about her THINGS?
  4. How does Mrs. Bentley feel about the past?
  5. Based on this chapter, how might Ray Bradbury feel about the PAST, and about THINGS?
  6. What is the difference between the bottles of Dandelion wine, and Mrs. Bentley’s objects?

Chapter 16

  1. In what way can Doug’s statement that “old people never were children” be explained logically?

Chapters 17AND8, 9, 11, 13

  1. What is the recurring motif in these chapters?
  2. Why does Doug call Mr. Freeleigh a Time Machine?
  3. What message might Bradbury be trying to convey with the comparison of the two machines?

Chapter 18

  1. What is far traveling?

Chapter 19

  1. What does the story about the Green Machine reveal about Douglas?
  2. Why does Roberta go out to the garage to honk the horn on the Green Machine?

Chapter 20 and 21

  1. Give a title to each chapter.
  2. What theme is shared by both chapters?
  3. Which chapter reveals an inner conflict?
  4. What is the inner conflict?
  5. What is the central event in each chapter?
  6. Who is affected by that central event?
  7. How upset is Doug when he finds out about each event?
  8. How upset is Doug by the end of each chapter?
  9. What strategies does Doug use to cope with his feelings in each chapter?
  10. Does he learn and apply anything from one event to the next? What?
  11. Which event do you think will leave Doug with the most long term pain, and why?
  12. What future events might these events help prepare Doug for?

Chapter 22 (nothing)

Chapter 23- 24

  1. Why is this story in the book?? What is going on?

Chapter 25

  1. How does Colonel Freeleigh feel about life?
  2. How does he feel about the children?
  3. What does the telephone give Colonel Freeleigh?
  4. Do you think he dies happy?
  5. What does the closing window symbolize, and why does it need to be 2000 miles away?

Chapter 26

  1. How do the two boys cope with Colonel Freeleigh’s death?

Chapter 27

  1. Why is Douglas depressed?
  2. How does Grandpa cure his depression?

Chapter 28

  1. This is a strange tale of love; a 95 year old and a 20 year old. Do you believe they will meet again?
  2. What is the code word Helen leaves for Bill so he will recognize her in her “next” life?
  3. If a girl really asks for the same ice cream, is that an indication that she is a reincarnation of Helen?
  4. Does it matter?
  5. Did you feel happy or sad when you finished this chapter?
  6. Ask an adult to read the chapter. Ask him/her how he/she felt when he/she finished the chapter.
  7. Why do you think your feelings were the same/ differed?

Chapter 29

  1. In winter, the boys seek a bit of summer; in winter, they seek a bit of winter. Why aren’t they ever content with what they have?
  2. How does the mood of the boys change during this chapter? How do you know?

______

Chapter 30

  1. Why might Bradbury have told this part of the story from the girls’ perspective, bringing Doug in as a bystander?
  2. How old did you think the three women were at the beginning of the chapter? Were you surprised to find out that Lavinia is 33?
  3. How does Bradbury build tension in this chapter?
  4. What do you think happens at the end? Offer the ending that the story seems to lead to, and offer a reading that would be unexpected but possible.

Chapter 31

  1. The boys seem upset that the Lonely One is presumably dead. Why?
  2. What has Tom “done now”?

Chapter 32

  1. How does Great grandma feel about dying?
  2. How does she help Doug cope with losing her?

Chapter 33

  1. What truth is Douglas shying away from?
  2. What does releasing the fireflies symbolize for Doug?
  3. Why does he take the empty mason jar to bed with him?

Chapter 34

  1. Why does the blank Tarot card frighten the boys?
  2. What do they decide to do?
  3. What do you think the boys learn from this experience?

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

  1. What is special about Mr. Jonas?

Chapter 37

  1. What is wrong with Douglas?
  2. What is going on on page 213?
  3. When Jonas asks Tom what has happened to Doug, what does Tom mention? Are these things we knew about? Why do we find out about them now? Why does Tom think these incidents are more important than the ones narrated in the story?
  4. What is Jonas’ cure for Doug?
  5. Why do you think the cure worked? (Note- there are at least two reasons)

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

  1. What is Grandma’s kitchen usually like?
  2. What does Aunt Rose change?
  3. How do those changes affect what goes on in Grandma’s house?
  4. What do Grandpa and Doug do to fix things?
  5. Does it work?
  6. What is Bradbury’s message to his readers in this chapter?

Chapter 40

  1. Doug and Tom have been using pencils and yellow writing pads all summer. Why is it more traumatic to see these items in a store window?
  2. How does Doug shut down the summer of 1928?
  3. Is there any difference between how he turned it on how he turns it off? Anything, for example, left out, or put in different order?
  4. What do these changes (if there are any) tell you about Douglas? How he’s matured and changed?