Medicine for Melancholy 1. Discuss the future of the space program as depicted in “The End of the Beginning,” “Icarus Montgolfier Wright,” “The Gift,” and “The Strawberry Window.” 2. Using “A Medicine for Melancholy,” “The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit,” and “The Smile,” discuss Bradbury’s belief that smiles can remedy the […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsCritical Essay Understanding Bradbury’s Works
Because he consistently uses the same terms, builds on established concepts, and returns to familiar themes, images, incidents, and characters, one can easily be lulled into feeling that Bradbury presents a comprehensive vision of the universe. However, Bradbury is not as interested in the universe as he is interested in […]
Read more Critical Essay Understanding Bradbury’s WorksRay Bradbury Biography
Bradbury’s love of fantasy was encouraged by his family. Their favorite time of the year was Halloween, which they celebrated with even more enthusiasm than they celebrated Christmas. When Bradbury was eight, his Aunt Neva helped him devise the grandest Halloween party imaginable. The Bradbury home was transformed into a […]
Read more Ray Bradbury BiographySummary and Analysis: The October Country The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone””
This story is neither a tale of horror nor of the macabre. Perhaps the only element it has in common with the other stories contained in The October Country is the paradoxical treatment that Bradbury gives Dudley Stone’s so-called “death.” Throughout the story, Dudley Stone is described in images of […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone””Summary and Analysis: The October Country Homecoming
“Homecoming” is another of the stories which centers around the outsider, the one who is different from the norm. Here, Timothy is an outsider in his family. He has none of the abilities of his brothers and sisters, and he lacks their approval. This rejection and dejection of Timothy sets […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country HomecomingSummary and Analysis: The October Country The Cistern””
Edgar Allen Poe is one of Bradbury’s favorite writers, and “The Cistern” uses an idea that often appears in Poe’s works — the death of a beautiful woman. In this story, Anna is that beautiful woman and is another of Bradbury’s lonely people. She is unfulfilled in love because she […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Cistern””Summary and Analysis: The October Country There Was an Old Woman””
“There Was an Old Woman” has a profound resemblance to Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” In both poem and story, the main character is an active individual, involved in too many labor and leisure time activities even to consider that life is drawing to a […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country There Was an Old Woman””Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Man Upstairs””
Bradbury feels strongly that a writer is never able to write well about anything with which he is unfamiliar. He advocates writing from personal experience, and such is the case in “The Man Upstairs” because Bradbury considers this story a eulogy of sorts to his grandmother whose culinary skills were […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Man Upstairs””Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Wind””
“The Wind” is another of Bradbury’s emotionally experienced horror stories which utilizes the everyday things familiar to all of us. Here he personifies the commonplace wind and gives it a sinister quality. He depicts it as a kind of monster who tracks its victims to the ends of the earth […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country The Wind””Summary and Analysis: The October Country Uncle Einar””
“Uncle Einar ” can almost be considered comic relief after one has experienced many of the dark stories of horror and the grotesque contained in The October Country. This story is a fantasy about a man whose green wings make him quite bizarre. Yet Bradbury leaves his readers warmly smiling […]
Read more Summary and Analysis: The October Country Uncle Einar””