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The Paradox Of Change In Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine

Decent Essays

The Paradox of Change
Change is a force which is ever-present in the universe, and an individual is never free from its effects; change will continuously mold the individual by challenging its perception of its surroundings and itself. In many ways, change causes development and maturity, yet it also causes decline and decay. Change is constant. However, the paradox of change is often difficult to accept, and people will fight with its reality throughout their lifetimes: friends will come and go, epiphanies and advances will arrive, and things will never quite be like they used to be. The struggle between change and the individual is a recurring part of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine. This relationship shows not only through the main …show more content…

This contention is very prevalent within Doug when he hears that his friend, John Huff, is moving away. To delay the inevitable, he tries his hardest to slow down time and prevent him from leaving. "The only way to keep things slow was to watch everything and do nothing! You could stretch a day to three days, sure, just by watching!" (Bradbury 106). Despite all of Doug's deliberation, John eventually has to leave. In an effort to cope with this change, Doug tries to convince himself that he hates John. Later in the summer, more people leave Doug and the rest of the town. Colonel Freeleigh, the kids' "time machine" eventually dies, and so does Doug's great-grandma. Before she passes, Great-grandma says, "'Any man saves fingernail clippings is a fool. You ever see a snake bother to keep his peeled skin? That's about all you got here today in this bed is fingernails and snake skin'" (Bradbury 183). Even though Great-grandma has already accepted her own passing, Doug and the rest of the family must come to terms with her absence on their own. The passing of those around Doug contributes to his realizations about the nature of the world around him.
Oftentimes, the changes within oneself are the most difficult to observe and accept. Throughout the summer, Doug has a multitude of realizations ranging from an awareness of his own life to the subsequent realization that he must die at some point. While picking fox grapes with Tom and his dad, Doug has

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