New Leaf July 2018 Discussion • Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

[issybird]

The ice cream posts have made me recall the trip to the ice house, one of the many instances where contrast is used to heighten and deepen one's appreciation of joy. The ravine running like a dark gash through Green Town is the most obvious example, the message being that that happiness, joy, beauty can't be fully appreciated unless it's been counterposed by its negative. It's why for the boys, who didn't yet appreciate evil, had to revivify the Lonely One, to heighten their own enjoyment of summer and freedom. There are few if any unalloyed joys, although ice cream would qualify, and even then it melts if you don't eat it.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by issybird

[...] There are few if any unalloyed joys, although ice cream would qualify, and even then it melts if you don't eat it.

I would not know.

[Bookpossum]

That ice-cream never had a chance!

The ice-house, like the ravine, is a bit mysterious and spooky - a place where Charlie says The Lonely One was born, raised and lived in, to scare Tom. So of course, it's irresistable, just as the ravine is, for that as much as for its coolness on a hot day.

[issybird]

I read an article earlier this summer (and of course now I can't find it) about how air conditioning is one of the contributing factors to less socialization, as of course it is. There was the lovely passage in the book about how people move out to their porches in the relative cool of the evening where they can interact with their neighbors as well as each other.

It's another interest where Bradbury offers up a contrast; getting along without air conditioning can be seen as a positive good. Yet on the stifling night when Doug would have died had Mr. Jonas not come to him with two bottles of cool air for him to drink we see the edge or limitation to that.

I suppose air conditioners are a type of Happiness Machine, as they fake a more salubrious climate but at a cost.

[Bookpossum]

That section about the people on the porches enjoying the cool of evening reminded me when I read it of a work by Samuel Barber called Knoxville: Summer of 1915. The words are by James Agee. The opening words are:

It has become that time of evening when people sit on their porches,
rocking gently and talking gently and watching the street ...

The mood is very much the same as in Bradbury's description.

[Catlady]

Funny that air conditioning has come up. For some reason I had wondered whether the movie theater Lavinia attends was described as having air conditioning, which would have provided a plausible reason for people to venture out at night when there's a serial killer in town. But apparently not, although movie theaters did start to be air-conditioned in 1925. Apparently that was a big summertime selling point back when people didn't have such a device in their homes.

Going to a movie seems at least as conducive to social interaction as sitting outside with one's family.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

That section about the people on the porches enjoying the cool of evening reminded me when I read it of a work by Samuel Barber called Knoxville: Summer of 1915. The words are by James Agee. The opening words are:

The mood is very much the same as in Bradbury's description.

Here's a video of Leontyne Price singing it:



And here's a link to the lyrics, which I won't quote in full because they're under copyright. I'll note that both ice cream and streetcars merit a mention.

Originally Posted by Catlady

Funny that air conditioning has come up. For some reason I had wondered whether the movie theater Lavinia attends was described as having air conditioning, which would have provided a plausible reason for people to venture out at night when there's a serial killer in town. But apparently not, although movie theaters did start to be air-conditioned in 1925. Apparently that was a big summertime selling point back when people didn't have such a device in their homes.

Going to a movie seems at least as conducive to social interaction as sitting outside with one's family.

I agree, as would going to the ice cream parlor or drugstore afterward, or instead of.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by issybird

I read an article earlier this summer (and of course now I can't find it) about how air conditioning is one of the contributing factors to less socialization, as of course it is. There was the lovely passage in the book about how people move out to their porches in the relative cool of the evening where they can interact with their neighbors as well as each other.

That's a really interesting thought. That particular aspect of air conditioning never occurred to me.

[CRussel]

Yes, orlok, I agree. It also drove a different pace of life in the summers of my youth, where A/C was still uncommon. We didn't live where folks could really sit out on the porch, but there was still a good deal more relaxed and interactive evenings. And the soda fountain at the drugstore (chemist) on the corner was where we kids went to hang out. Movie theaters were air conditioned, so when it got too hot and we all needed a break, Mom would take us to a double-feature.

[orlok]

The humble air con, changing lives forever. Who’d a thunk?

(It’s an AIR CONDITIONER air conditioner!)

[BenG]

My parents never had air conditioning until after I left home. We spent the days playing outside, maybe down at the creek in the woods or over at a friends house whose grandparents owned a farm with a pond and a porch with a swing.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

The last trip on the trolley is another example of these themes, as it goes on beyond the last stop down to the lake on the overgrown rails. I loved that section.

This was also one of the points when I was still wondering if it was going to go full on Bradbury though. It still had the sheen of something that could go horribly wrong at any moment and descend into Halloween Tree territory. I think I was only faintly disappointed that it never really did save for the Happiness Machine.

[Bookpossum]

A sort of modern Pied Piper, taking the children away in his trolley? I hadn’t thought of that!

[Dngrsone]

Interestingly, I was sifting through a few boxes of paperbacks today (moving to a slightly smaller house with much less storage, so we have to scale back on the possessions) and lo and behold, there was a copy of Dandelion Wine in the third box.

Granted, it may have been in Dngrswife's possession before our merger, but I certainly hadn't read it until now.

My elder daughter has spent several hours going through the boxes, complaining about the sheer number of books.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

My elder daughter has spent several hours going through the boxes, complaining about the sheer number of books.

I'm sorry! I'm sure you did your best to raise her right.