Author’s Craft in Chapter 21 & 22 of Dandelion Wine
“He was, in fact, the only god living in the whole of Green Town, Illinois, during the twentieth century that Douglas Spaulding knew of.” (Bradbury 82) In Chapter 21 and Chapter 22 of the novel Dandelion Wine, the author, Ray Bradbury, writes about Douglas Spaulding’s loss of a dear friend - John Huff. On page 82, Chapter 21 starts off with its first paragraph containing excessive details on the characteristics of John Huff. In the line mentioned above, Bradbury decides to describe John as ‘the only god living’ to Douglas Spaulding. However, the word “god” is a used a bit oddly here. Despite this unusual usage of the word, it does make sense in a way where John is the person who Douglas adores and worships, perhaps. It could also possibly mean that John would be “immortal”, as in immortal inside of Douglas’s heart. This is what first suggests a friendship or a type of relationship between the two. Throughout the first few pages, one thing that a reader will definitely notice about the passage…show more content… There’s a specific metaphor that Douglas speaks about on page 89, “Statues are best, he thought. They’re the only things you can keep on your lawn. Don’t ever let them move. Once you do, you can’t do a thing with them.” At this point of time in the passage, Douglas, John, and a couple of other boys are playing a game called ‘hide-and-seek and Statues’. Although they are just pretending to be statues, the line on page 89 hints statues to be of more meaning as either a metaphor or an example of symbolism. A potential interpretation of ‘statues’ would be: statues = loved ones. This suggests that they’re always supposed to stay by your side and in your lawn. But, when they’re not or when they leave the lawn, they’re just nothing. One can tell that Douglas’s words most likely has huge relevance/ connection to his individual feelings on John’s
