Chapter nineteen is about the “The Green Machine”. In the chapter two elderly women, Miss Fern and Miss Roberts, take refuge in their attic after they accidentally run over Mister Quartermain while riding the Green Machine, believing him to be dead. Huddling together, they recall the time when they bought the Green Machine from a salesman as a noiseless, smooth form of transportation. The first week on the Green Machine went by like a dream, until the accident with Mister Quartermain. Fern and Roberts lament on how they did not stop or at least get help for him, and then resolve to not drive the Green Machine ever again. Later on, they learn that Mister Quartermain did not die after all.
Tag: Short Story
Dandelion Wine – Chapters Seventeen and Eighteen
Chapters seventeen and eighteen cover the theme of “The Last, the Very Last”. Douglas and Tom are introduced to a living “Time Machine” in the form of Colonel Freeleigh who narrates incredibly vivid descriptions of his personal experiences, including a fatal bullet trick performed by Ching Ling Soo, being on the prairie with Pawnee Bill, and witnessing the Battle of Fort Sumter. His anecdotes draw the boys themselves into the detailed events, and all agree that the colonel is a true Time Machine.
Similar to the previous story in Chapter fourteen, there is an expository chapter in which Douglas and Tom record the story in Douglas’ tablet and provide both casual and profound commentary on its implications.
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Dandelion Wine – Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen
Chapter fifteen and sixteen concerns a “Season of Disbelief”. Mrs. Bentley, a seventy-two year old woman who saves all memorabilia from her past, finds her beliefs challenged by two girls named Alice and Jane, who meet her along with Tom and don’t believe her when she says that she was young like them once. Claiming that she’s lying, they run away laughing, leaving Mrs. Bentley infuriated.
The next time they meet, Mrs. Bentley shows them some of her relics, including a photograph of her as a child. Alice and Jane say that the objects don’t prove anything, since she could have got them from another girl, and Mrs. Bentley’s insistence that they will one day be old like her fails to unnerve them. They run away with her “stolen” possessions, further shaking Mrs. Bentley’s confidence in the authenticity of her childhood. As she sifts through her memorabilia, she hears the voice of her husband speaking to her, explaining that the items don’t really belong to her because they came from the past, not from the present she is living in now. Even affidavits wouldn’t change the fact that she’s no longer the self that the saved clothes and pictures were meant for.
Mrs. Bentley finally understands, and discards the tokens of her past the next day with the help of the girls and Tom. From then on, she lives in the present only, confirming the girls’ belief that she was never young “in a million trillion years.”
In a following chapter, Tom later tells Douglas of his revelation that old people never truly were young, which Douglas writes down in his tablet.
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Dandelion Wine – Chapter Fourteen
Chapter fourteen begins as the Spaulding family prepares to shake out the rugs, Douglas and Tom’s imaginations turn this chore into a magical discovery, fancying that they see the happenings and neighbors in their town in the stains of one rug. A lavish metaphor at the end of the chapter describes Tom beating the rug so hard that the dust rises up to meet him, another surrealistic chapter ending possibly a reference to the Judeo-Christian belief that man was created from dust.
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Dandelion Wine – Chapters Twelve
Chapter twelve could be titled “The Lawns of Summer”. It is another interception of Leo’s story which re-focuses on the Spaulding family. Douglas’ grandfather begins the day, happily reveling in the sound of the lawn mower running on their lawn, an indicator to him that summer has truly begun. Grandma, however, tells him that Bill Forrester, the man cutting their grass, is planning to plant new grass on their lawn that will only grow to a certain height, thus eliminating the need for lawn mowers. (Note: no such grass actually exists yet in the real world) Horrified at this, Grandpa gives Bill a firm lecture on how little things can matter more than the big ones, especially to experienced people like him. Bill attempts to change his mind, but only convinces Grandpa further of his position when he learns that the new grass will kill off the dandelions.
Grandpa finally pays Bill the cost of the grass flats in return for him not installing the flats in his lawn. He takes a nap and wakes up in the afternoon to find Bill cutting the lawn again, having learned to appreciate the “little things,” thanks to Grandpa.
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Dandelion Wine – Chapter Two
Chapter two has the theme of illumination. Douglas Spaulding goes with his ten-year-old brother Tom and his father to pick fox grapes. While Tom and his father act like today is just a regular day, Douglas senses a mysterious presence around them. When Tom starts a friendly horseplay fight between the two of them, Douglas suddenly realizes what the mysterious presence is. It is the revelation that he’s alive. He finds it a wonderful and invigorating feeling.
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The Martian Chronicles
Preface: I own the Bantam Books paperback edition, printing number 68 in 1988. It includes the story where the blacks (African-Americans) get fed up with the south and head to Mars. Some editions have this story edited out. The removal of the story was for political correctness and to not offend some racial groups.
I first read The Martin Chronicles in the 1980’s. I continue to come back from time to time to dip (to use a Bradbury phrase) into the wonderful writing and story telling of Ray Bradbury. He set the standard high when he wrote The Martian Chronicles. The book has one of the most important set of observations about our human issues ever written in either science fiction or science fantasy form.
Like many of Mr. Bradbury’s works, The Martian Chronicles is short story collection He turned them into a novel by writing a few transition stories to fit with ones he had already written. He wrote these short stories in the late 1940s. That was a time when we knew almost nothing about Mars. He uses Mars as the backdrop for a more serious look at issues and questions including hate, war, lack of forethought, and greed. Mr. Bradbury visualizes an amazing future. He sees what can be when humankind operates at our best. He appeals to our better selves to build a better future.
The book covers a period from 1999 through 2026. It begins with the first manned expedition to Mars from Earth. The American astronauts find Martians on the first journey to Mars. The complications of the first four expeditions come from the interactions between humans and Martians. The complications are unexpected and fascinating.
In the book, much of the human colonization of Mars brings those who want to recreate Earth against those who appreciate what is special about Mars. Therefore, exploitation versus conservation is one theme in the book. There are magnificent stories in here against racism, censorship of books, and war.
Near the book’s end are three stories about a variety of meanings of loneliness. They are wonderful. The first looks at men and women seeking each other out when there is no other company. The second considers the loss of a family and how to cope with that. The third looks remorsefully at the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.
The last story in The Martian Chronicles, “The Million-Year Picnic,” makes me very melancholy. From that story, you will be able to answer “Who are the Martians?”
Do not let the fact that Bradbury mainly writes science fiction and fantasy keep you from reading this master story-teller. Read Bradbury for his great story telling, dialogue, and writing.
