Dandelion Wine (part II)

no charge because it is the trolley’s last ride. The bus is starting tomorrow and he is retiring with a nice pension. Douglas is stunned; he cannot believe the Green Machine is gone, his shoes are wearing out, and now the trolley. A bus does not make the same noise as a trolley or throw the same sparks.

a perfect day. Sadly, though, a cloud travels over and covers the sun and John tells Douglas that his dad got a new job and they have to move to another town. Douglas is struck and sinks down helplessly. He asks if John will visit and John says his dad said it would only be once or twice a year.

a few of the losses that will only snowball as the summer proceeds. These losses are seemingly innocuous but, again, will be joined by more devastating ones.
Douglas “discovers that while one strictly mechanical machine may fail, other more human ‘machines’ may succeed.” This human machine is Colonel Freeleigh, who in his recollections and “far-traveling” takes Douglas and his friends on amazing journeys. Through Freeleigh Bradbury reinforces a theme already articulated in the first mention of dandelion wine as a way to bottle memories – that memories are important and contain within in them the values, tragedies, heroism, and beauty of both an individual and the society to which they belong.

sees the bottles of dandelion wine from the first and remembers that some are from the day he realized he was alive. He wonders why they aren't brighter. He looks at one from the day John Huff left; why isn’t it darker? Can the bottles encapsulate the smell of the Green Machine or trolley? Perhaps if one poured out a drop of the dandelion wine under a microscope “the entire world of July Fourth would firework out in Vesuvius showers” (160).
Douglas sighs that August is coming but there won’t be any friends, dandelion wine, or machines. Grandfather chides him gently for sounding like a funeral bell. He gives him some wine, tells him to drink a bit, and run around and climb trees and do push ups. Douglas cheerfully agrees.

the moon is rising and a few people sit on their porches. Lavinia Nebbs walks to her friend Francine’s house so they can go to the Charlie Chaplin film. Francine worries that they shouldn’t go because the Lonely One could be out and Elizabeth Ramsell just disappeared and Hattie McDollis was killed two months ago and Roberta Ferry went missing too.
In the silent, warm ravine they suddenly come across a body. It is Elizabeth Ramsell and she is clearly dead.

compare, especially in Douglas’s mind, to the losses he suffers now. Colonel Freeleigh, Helen Loomis, and Great-grandma all pass away not long after John Huff informs Douglas he is moving far away. These deaths are startling to a boy who just realized the beauty and richness of life. Clearly Douglas is struggling with how to deal with these losses, which is understandable. The loss of John was the loss of a true best friend and a truly kind and wonderful person. The loss of Colonel Freeleigh meant the loss of time travel, of connection to the past. The same goes for Helen Loomis, but her death also indicates that not everyone gets their happy ending. And Great-grandma’s death is a tragedy for the family.

and memories that are of great importance: “Hold summer in your hand, pour summer in a glass, a tiny glass of course, the smallest tingling sip for children; change the season in your veins by raising glass to lip and tilting summer in.” It is not an accident that wine is chosen as a symbol of happiness, because both happiness and wine can make a person drunk and even cloud one’s thoughts. However, dandelion wine has nothing to do with negative effect of spirits - it is only the positive side, only one of optimism. And the very process of collecting the flowers and making the wine is a kind of ritual that is important for the boys because it is associated with summer.